War Posters from Ukraine
September 9, 2023 to January 6, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 28, 7 PM, Everyone is welcome!
War Posters from Ukraine is a collaboration with the Ukrainian association Pictoric Illustrators Club. It is an exhibition of protest art created in the aftermath of Russia’s devastating full-scale assault on Ukraine.
Founded by Olena Staranchuk, Oleh Gryshchenko, and Anna Sarvira in 2014, Pictoric brings together artists, graphic designers and illustrators, organizes workshops and presents Ukrainian creators abroad to elevate Ukrainian art to an international level. War Posters from Ukraine is a poignant reflection of Ukrainians’ fears, feelings, and pain during the war, and aims to inspire global demands for peace and justice.
Following the exhibition, the posters will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to artists working for the Ukrainian defense. // www.supportukraine-pic.com
Pictoric’s Artist Statement
The Ukrainian Illustrators Club is a society of illustrators, graphic designers, and artists who express their creativity, originality, and authentic style through the means and techniques proper to current trends and tendencies in visual arts. Our mission is to develop and promote illustration as a quality product with high aesthetic value, representing Ukraine on a high level at international events.
As a union of young and successful arts professionals, the Pictoric Club organizes art exhibitions, master classes, lectures, round tables, etc. One of the most critical roles of Pictoric is the role of facilitator in collaboration between the artists and publishers, where we undertake to promote, first of all, young and creative artists.
Pictoric was established in 2014, and during this time, we have created many international and national projects which involved the best illustrators from Ukraine and abroad. Among the most notable projects are “Prominent Ukrainians,” “Yellow & Blue,” “Face to Face: human rights in the digital age,” “Trust, but Verify: media literacy in Ukrainian Society,” as well as the annual international exhibition of illustrations and lectures at the largest book festival “Book Arsenal” in Ukraine.
When Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, affiliated artists started to work hard, expressing their thoughts and reflections on war through illustrations. Pictoric has created a website that collects all these works to reflect everything that is happening in Ukraine now. Most of the illustrators remained in Ukraine and kept working from bomb shelters.
We believe that illustration is one of the key ways to keep a dialogue between the artist and society. One image can tell more than a one-hour conversation. Pictoric illustrators create their works based on actual events. An artist can subtly convey emotions through ideas, composition, and color.
Unlike a reporter’s documentary, an illustration designed by an artist creates a complete picture of the event. Of course, emotionally, it is challenging to work in the current situation. However, to keep working, we believe, is the best we can do now as it is also our professional responsibility. Also, after the war, these illustrations will go down in history as a document that covers all these terrible things that are happening now.
The website we established after the war started already has over 250 works created by over 30 Ukrainian illustrators, and this number is only growing. We want to fill every kind of media as much as possible so that people from other countries know about actual events in Ukraine. Currently, we feel the support from different countries, where people go to rallies, host refugees and help with humanitarian aid. However, our biggest fear is that the world will get tired of this agenda and will return to its normal rhythm of life after some time. Of course, we don’t want the world to be constantly in tension, but we want to spread the word as much as possible so that people know how devastating our reality is today. It’s one thing to watch the news on TV, and a completely different feeling to be in it, absorbing an artistically-interpreted image that will stay in your heart.
Thank you for your support!
Pictoric team