LABELED "TSEKH"

The process is debugged here. New exhibition opens every three weeks. New young Ukrainian authors represent contemporary art here. Native contemporary art is a main field for "TSEKH" and for few more art institutions in Kiev, which would rather work with well-known, famous artists.

The main feature of "TSEKH" is a "production" of new names.

The gallery was created 2 years ago, and since then has become the most active show ground. Its strategy is interesting both for attendants and for art-critics. 

On the gallery walls, there are always a provocation and surprise, which cause ambiguous reaction of viewers and "transpositions" inside the art-field. Yesterday's well-known names disappear and new appear, and alternative to both offers "TSEKH". People have lost interest to many exhibition grounds, since "TSEKH" opened.

The gallery has no limits in genres, and does not care if the artist is famous. Moreover, well-known artists, as Vasiliy Tsagolov, Ilya Isupov, Vinni Reunov, and Yuriy Solomko also exhibit here, because they still work in contemporary art field.

Indeed, "TSEKH" can easily give up artistic quality of paintings, if the authors' concept and message is noteworthy - that is how many young artists appeared. In Ukraine and abroad, thanks to boldness and openness, are known Yuri Pikul, Rustam Mirzoev, Yaroslav Derkach, Evgeniy Petrov, Sergey Degtaryov, Viktor Melnichuk, Beata Korn and others.

The gallery already declared about itself on international exhibitions. There was a lot of noise on the last Art Moscow, where visitors asked to discard one represented artwork. Such a trouble seems as a great promotion for "TSEKH".

Unfortunately, nowadays art-criticism that relates more to journalism, than to traditional art disciplines, does not consider carefully the artworks, but in judgments comes from epatage and opposition to glamour.  

Journalists can hardly understand the gallery activity that is dynamic and unforeseeable. Ukrainian contemporary art has revived, since "TSEKH" declared to exhibit an ambiguous, trash&fresh, radical artworks - starting from waxen "partitioned" politicians (Ilya Isupov) to hard variations on historical theme (Igor Pereclita). For sure, art-opuses about these projects make "TSEKH" even more mysterious.

A gallery creates a myth about contemporary art pioneers. Criticism creates a myth about gallery activity. Only common history will remain in memory. Indeed, "TSEKH" already is a key "producer" of Ukrainian contemporary art.  

Maria Khrushchak
art critic, curator