Mikhail Reva presents a powerful, symbolic exhibition that offers an artistic vision of unflinching gravitas on the war in Ukraine. Through his audacious incorporation of wartime debris from the very conflict itself, Reva conveys profound themes of good versus evil, freedom versus oppression, in a manner that viscerally grips the sensibilities of the viewer.
At the crux of this exhibition lies a central narrative – the pitched battle between the "Ukrainian dream" of democratic liberty and the "Russian World" cult of authoritarianism, propaganda and violence. Reva's monumental sculptural forms translate this transcendent ideological struggle from the abstract into corporeal, confrontational reality.
Among the key artworks to be exhibited are the haunting "Moloch – Beast of War", "In Memory of the Crucified", "Eternal Memory", "Victorious Heart", and "Balance of Peace" – each forged from the twisted, scarred remains of missiles and shells that once rained indiscriminate destruction upon peaceful Ukrainian cities and villages. These ghastly, anthropomorphized forms embody the sinister forces of the "Russian World" with an authenticity that chills the soul.
Yet they are poignantly juxtaposed against serene human figures representing the innocent civilians ensnared as collateral victims in this conflict's crosshairs. Reva wields this contrast between aggression and tranquility, danger and innocence, to profound and unsettling effect that quite upends the viewer's perceived reality. The exhibition's series of abstracted sculptures exemplify how the artist translates the horrors of war into searing artistic indictments through symbolic geometry and visceral colorations. His deconstructions of once-familiar forms reflect the upheaval and loss wrought by conflict in jarringly novel perceptual ways. Drawing inspiration from ancient folklores and philosophies, Reva processes unfathomable violence by reconstructing it into physical sculptural form – exorcising society's darkest destructive impulses through powerful, ritualistic talismans against the very forces they depict. The tension between viewer and these imposing, anthropomorphized artworks sparks the imagination towards transcendent realms.