The exhibition «Famous People of Ukraine» by Danylo Knyshuk is not just busts of famous Ukrainians, they are their souls, conveyed in sculpture. The author deliberately sculpts only from life, because in the process of work he reveals the personality, and it is his inner world that becomes the center of the work.
The format of the exhibition is new for the Scientific and Technical Library. Where else can you gather people who are the quintessence of Ukraine? Danylo Knyshuk is an extraordinary person: he grew up in a family of artists, received two educations (technical and artistic), was never afraid of experiments and drastic changes in life. And he began his creative career by studying at the National Academy of Arts in Kyiv.
«I was a little older, and I was confident because I came from a creative family. I began to study at the Academy as a free listener, and students gave me a lot of advice and help. They were from Odesa, Luhansk – from all over Ukraine, all very talented people. There were also not so skillful ones. Teachers rarely come to view our final exam projects; and students go after the strongest», says the sculptor.
Classes in sculpture prompted the young artist to think about the purpose of this craft. For Danylo Knyshuk, the sculpture was something deeper than just life, rendered in plaster, it was the revelation of the depth and multifacetedness of a person, his soul.
«It is necessary not just to see and mold, but to understand how it is arranged, what is the mechanics of a person. I focused more on the study of a person – I showed interest in the psyche, various processes in the body, what changes a person undergoes with age, and what never changes in him. That’s how I learned about that inner constant fire. Therefore, when they say «fine art», I understand it as «creating an image» –something that will have its own life», says the artist.
Danylo Knyshuk started this project at the academy, and since then the exposition is constantly replenished with sculptural images of people who develop our Motherland. The sculptor understood the true purpose of his project while communicating with Myroslav Skoryk and Yevhen Stankovych, who impressed him with the depth of their personalities.
«Sculpting from life at the academy, you had to fantasize a little bit. While communicating with such personalities, you have to reveal and learn more about them. In addition, it is very difficult, even though I have two degrees, to understand such personalities at the crossroads of different eras. They don’t tell and won’t tell us many things, and maybe that’s the most valuable thing», explains Danylo Knyshuk.
It was very important for the sculptor to talk to a person face to face in order to get to know his inner world. A lot has already been written about the personalities from which the artist sculpted sculptures, but Danylo Knyshuk understood how they should be immortalized in a sculpture only while talking to them in the workshop.
«I started recording those conversations with a recorder, and by posing, people opened up in a different way, more widely than they could open up in normal interviews. I wanted to expose some moments to see them as an artist. When people or experts talk about what a person was like and want to portray him exactly like that, then they impose their own vision, layering, and all you have to do is follow. And here, in a relaxed conversation, they simply revealed themselves for me to see», adds the sculptor.
Socrates said «Speak so that I may see you». Danylo Knyshuk visualized this saying. His sculptures are souls conveyed with the help of plaster. They can «tell» a lot. Be sure to visit the exhibition on the second floor of the Scientific and Technical Library, Lviv Polytechnic, until August 19.
