The Belarusian Abstractionism

Abstraction appears in the contemporary Belarusian art in the 1980-1990-ies. It was the time of formation of the so-called ‘Belarusian avant-garde’. During this period, artists, trying to restore the interrupted communication, put their minds to the various directions of the Modernism of the first half of 20th century. Abstraction took an important place in their creative search. As the apogee of such searching a legendary association ‘Nemiga-17’ was established. Members of this association (Zoya Litvinava, Leanid Khobatau, Mikalay Bushchyk and others) have been united together by their desire to overcome the crisis of Socialist Realism method through the liberation of painting from the subject.

The phenomenon of the revival of abstractionism in contemporary Belarusian art is associated primarily with the legacy of Kazimir Malevich’s pedagogical and creative activity in Vitebsk in the beginning of 20th century. Modern followers of Malevich (Alexander Maley, Sergey Kiryushchenko) work in the field of geometric abstraction, bringing it together with the actual practices of conceptualism. However, many authors do not accept Malevich’s idea of the Death of Painting and continue to work in the field of lyrical abstraction (Alexander Soloviev, Victor Sakhno, Anatoly Kuznetsov). They learn the experience of abstract expressionism and get inspiration in Mark Rothko’s works. In contrast to the darkness of Malevich’s «Black Square» some artists (Grigory Ivanov, Victor Vasiukevich) put up the symbol of light in their paintings.

Source: Sukhodolov, A. Conceptual Foundations of Abstract Art of Belarus in the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries. Report for the student conference ‘Europe 2014’ , European Humanitarian University, Vilnius (not published yet)