Arsen Savadov

One of the key figures in Ukrainian contemporary art is Arsen Savadov, who emerged in the late 1980s as part of the Ukrainian transavantgarde, neo-baroque generation. Critics consider him to be a significant artist. In 1987, Savadov collaborated with Georgiy Senchenko to create "The Sorrow of Cleopatra," which marked a turning point in Ukrainian art. He gained popularity through his provocative projects "Donbas Chocolate" and "Book of the Dead." In 2001, Savadov represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale, curated by Harold Zeeman. Savadov graduated from the Kyiv Art Institute in 1986 and was one of the first artists in Ukraine to work with video in the 1990s. Throughout his career, he has used techniques such as installation, performance, and photography. His solo exhibitions include "Gulliver's Dream" at Art Ukraine Gallery in Kyiv (2017), "First-person" at Pecherskiy Gallery (V-art gallery) in Moscow (2012), "Paintings" at Daniyal Mahmood Gallery in New York (2007), "Donbass-Chocolate" at Galerie Orel Art Presenta in Paris (2003), and "Arsen Savadov" at Chasie Post Gallery in Atlanta, USA (1995). Savadov gained public attention in the mid-1990s when he published a series of fashion shoots featuring scantily clad models taken in cemeteries during funerals. The juxtaposition of life and death, happiness and sorrow, power and weakness in these works served as an allegory of pretense and reality, which has been a recurring theme in his art. During the 1990s, when Ukraine was restructuring its economy, Savadov worked in obsolete industrial plants, particularly in the coal fields of Donbass.