His work is extremely realistic: admiring the Ukrainian huts, feeling home comfort and appeasement, while contemplating the canvas on Indian subjects – the desire to go on a journey, so that, like him, along and across the passage of a wonderful country that became for him a second homeland. For a significant personal contribution to the development of national culture and art, Yuri Kamyshnyi was awarded the title “People’s Artist of Ukraine”. Especially for “Zhytomyr.Travel” – the artist’s story about the materialization of dreams, feelings of peace, teachers and pleasure
“All our life is a big question to the cosmos, to God: who are we? what are we? why are we? how are we? Everyone answers this question with their work, their creativity. It turned out that I was born an artist, but I envy the representatives of other professions. I love music, because it deeply enters our soul, our essence, our heart. The viewers who were in the hall at Mozart’s concerts, felt how their souls were healed, they seemed to receive the remission of their sins because of the melody they heard. It’s so beautiful! How to feel yourself, to make others feel! Envy Fellini, Tchaikovsky, Berman, Ryazanov. You can express your feelings in many ways: cinema, color, movement, heart. I envy cinematographers, because cinema is an art that has the greatest influence on the soul, heart and consciousness of mankind. We also have to envy other specialties. But in any case, each of us must do our job well, be responsible, in fulfilling our responsibilities. If you are going to do something bad – it’s better not to do at all. As a painting lawyer, I have to say that a good picture is also a good thing, a good deed”
“While in the army, from time to time I wanted to escape from there, because life was not mine. I was constantly looking for opportunities to meet with myself. And I found her at the Simferopol cemetery, on which I liked to “fall asleep” from the army. Once, after drowning in the cemetery, I stumbled upon the grave of Archbishop Luke, the professor of purulent surgery Valentine Voyno-Yasenetsky, with whom I met in absentia in the Odessa monastery. I learned from the life feat of this outstanding person from Mikhail Potapov, an icon painter, an Egyptian who lived for 105 years …. At one time, he painted an Odessa monastery in Byzantine style, wrote an angel from me (the Kamishny was not always bald – at that moment I had long curly black hair) and talked about Professor Voino-Yasenetsky. Archbishop Luke in his youth also learned to paint. But somehow he told his parents that he did not want to enjoy what he liked and wanted to benefit the community by helping people – and went to study at a doctor. After graduation, he treated not only the body but also the hearts of people. His whole life was a feat and confession”
“Technique in artistic art – in the background, on the first – it is your love, sincerity, frankness. Michelangelo had an account that he did not use. He lived in a small, non-milled cell, and when he died, his socks could not be tucked away from the body. Imagine how much a person has been devoted to his work? Art is like a jealous woman: if you betray her once, she will betray you many times. If you want to do something worthwhile – you need to work day and night. Only then will you get something. I have wonderful teachers in Odessa, they just worked and worked. Now on Andreevsky descent sold paintings, which depict the sea, and they are not worse than Aivazovsky. Perhaps even performed in a more virtuous, than Aivazovsky technique. But one small detail – they have no love, no soul ”
“People of art are very powerful weapons. And the great one – who uses it. Tourists come to any country thanks to the artists. For example, in Italy everyone goes to look at works of art. And thanks to this, the country is richer”
“My most expensive picture I sold a long time ago for $ 2500. I spent the money on the trip. Ukraine is getting poorer, and it has to cut prices for paintings. But I myself do not really want to sell them: sometimes I have to persuade, because the pictures are like relatives to me, I have a blood relationship with them. It is very difficult to part with the works in which you have invested soul, love, time, opportunities. My teacher Volodymyr Grigorovich said: “If you sell everything, what will you be for the artist? When will your friends come to you, what will you show them? “I remember these words forever. Other my colleagues, more skilled, can within a short period of time put their thoughts on the canvas. For me, however, the creation of paintings – the time-consuming process, they are hurt to me, so it’s so bad to let them go to the world. I lose in my profits, instead, I get great pleasure from the discoveries of my exhibitions, in which my children, my melodies, my songs in the form of paintings, bring pleasure to my friends. I am my creativity, I am my paintings when there are no my paintings – there is no blood in my veins. They are proof of my existence in this world, my language, which I can confess in love to my fellow countrymen and God. The largest currency that you can get for your works is love”
“In fact, I paint all the pictures for myself. I can not draw on an order, it does not work out from me. But all the great works in this world – the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other artists – were created for the customers’ money. And they went out great, outstanding. So the order is not bad, but the thought itself is intolerable – to work on the picture in order to get rid of it tomorrow. Maybe I’m greedy or what? Over the years, when love for one or another work goes away, it is easier to part with it. After the death of some artists in Kyiv, they paint their paintings on the street and burn them, because they have nothing to do. I believe that the fate of my may be this”
“The artist should not be hungry. It must be solid, happy, warmed up. Being in Kullu last year, in the second home of Roerich, where he lived for the past 19 years, I learned that he had 19 servants, so that he was able to devote himself to creativity: draw a huge number of paintings and make scientific discoveries. Material well-being opens additional opportunities for creativity …”
“I do not like mountains. Do you know which people climb mountains? Those who feel easy and relaxed. They lack contrasts, I want some sharp impressions, wrestling, but I love calm in the ocean, calm at sea, steppes. Maybe because my parents are from the steppes, and perhaps also because I have in my heart mountains, faults, anxieties, eternal warfare, and therefore I want peace in the world”
“One of my paintings, which depicts the hut of Inna Velichko, from which she made the museum, I presented the head of the Eastern European Institute for the Development of Mridul Ghosh. She is from India, he has a thorough knowledge of dance art and the art of diplomacy (in his time, Mridul Ghosh was a UN representative in Ukraine). I sometimes joke that Mridul Gosh saves Ukraine from Ukrainians – for example, she defended “Gostiny Dvor” firmly. I appreciate her for the fact that this talented woman translated into “Forest song” of Lesia Ukrainka in the Bengali language, translated and arranged a collection of poems by Ukrainian writers “Ukraine Alpona” – “Ukrainian Pattern”, which included the works of 28 most famous Ukrainian poets: from Skovoroda to Ivan Malkovich I am pleased that Mridul Ghosh has decorated this edition with my paintings. The collection went to India – so I am now always present in this country”
“If there is a free hour – always draw. Can not draw – read. But read only about the great people to learn something”
“The artwork should not only give pleasure to the eyes. It should give pleasure to the heart and soul, to enrich people, so that they are illuminated not only by impressions, but also the world is recognized, looking at the plot of the picture. The painting should be a story about life, the universe, politics, culture, religion. I would like the organizers of the “Coronation of the Word” contest to introduce the “Word in Painting” nomination – for eloquence in the “image” of poetry and prose by means of paints”
“100 years of life will not be enough to describe a female entity, a female being. Men will know women throughout their lives, but understanding a woman is impossible. This is a magnet that God has awarded us, and we go to the sound of their flute, holding their hands on the seams … A woman is a mystery of being, an immense, unidentified melody. Earth, Ukraine, India – all the essence of the female race that I love”
“The dream of civilization – a combination of the material West with the spiritual Orient. These two sides of the world “flared up”: the West is in the physical and material, and the East is spiritual, and therefore they lose”
“Thoughts materialize. I exchange my paintings on the opportunity to travel – they helped make my dream come true: to visit the most charming country in the world, in India. Being there, I come back to myself. Perhaps during the birth of my mother in this country half of my umbilical cord was lost – flew to the Taj Mahal and somewhere there fell. Sri Lanka, Nepal are very similar to India with their landscapes, people, but I do not have the same feelings that I have for India. From love to her I have no drugs. My beloved god is from India: in order to remove the obstacles on the way to realizing its goal, it is worth rubbing the Ganesha’s bosom”
“2 years ago, India recognized the Ganges River as a living creature. Imagine our politicians who came to Zhytomyr with the statement: “From now on, we complained about the river Teteriv saint, and this will be prescribed in the statute. Now it is impossible to throw garbage in the reservoir, to spit, bathe naked “. In India, all statesmen belong to being, to nature, to people with trepidation, with prayers, with love”
“The mystery of being for me is hidden in three countries – in Ukraine, India and on Easter Island, which is my third love. The figures on the island are a mystery that still needs to be solved. Nobody knows how they were doing, which prompted the creation of these sculptures: wanted to please the then masters or honor the gods? why are they returned not to the island, and “look” outside the territory? Thanks to the art we make an impression about this universe. If there were no artists, would we know how this world was once, at a time when there were no cameras and camcorders?”
“We artists, as children, need constant attention and material rewards. For example, I really wanted the state authorities to pay more attention to the art, that a law on patronage was passed, but so far we are not even congratulated on our holiday – the Day of the artist, which we celebrate on October 14. This year nobody mentioned this holiday, nobody remembered the soldiers who defend the universe and our country by means of art and a brush”
“Homeland is not chosen. I was born here, and happy from that. So it was necessary for the universe and for God. My mother is from Odessa, my father is from Poltava. The war was introduced to them in Zhytomyr, and so my brother and I came to light. While in other countries (I have been abroad 27 times, 11 of them – in India), I am everywhere as a Ukrainian as a Zhytomyrer. This land should be loved. Is there for that”
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
