European Network of Cultural Centres (ENCC)

"There Was an Artist Here"

NGO "Asortymentna kimnata"
Ukraine
53117843486_c4a85e77e6_k

The project aims to preserve, document, and promote Ivano-Frankivsk outsider art by organising printing of the catalogue of the very first museum exhibition of the artist Oleh "Parfyon" Parfyonov at the Local History Museum in the City Hall

Oleg Parfyonov, known in artistic circles under the pseudonym Parfyon, lived and worked in Ivano-Frankivsk. His work can be categorised as art brut/outsider art/autodidactic art (self-taught) and characterised as anti-systemic. This fits Frankivsk contemporary art into the current European discourse, as art brut and outsider art is a significant niche that is actively documented and exhibited by both museums and private galleries in Europe.

The example of Parfyon's artistic legacy shows how a small group of citizens can create an opportunity for an artist's free creative expression. That is why it is important for the project to show the artist through the prism of the people who supported him and collected (and are collecting) collections of his works, including a number of cultural figures who are significant for the city.

The exhibition in Ivano-Frankivsk Museum of Local History gathered works from the private collections of various cultural figures from Frankivsk (and partially from Kyiv) in one place: Rostyslav Shpuk, Taras Prokhasko, Mokh (Oleh Hnativ), Yuriy Izdryk, Nikita Kadan, the Drunken Ship publishing house, Alona Karavai and others.

The main goal of the project is publishing the catalogue of Parfyon's works, which will be distributed, in particular, to Ukrainian and foreign curators, in order to promote his work and include his works in exhibitions and collections outside Ivano-Frankivsk.

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