On October 27, the “IN MEMORIAM” project will begin — a large-scale retrospective of the work of Vitaliy Kulikov (1935–2015), in which the Kharkiv Municipal Gallery and VOVATANYA Gallery have sought to present the artist’s creative legacy to the public as comprehensively as possible.

As part of this project, the gallery presents an exhibition of paintings and graphic works by the renowned Ukrainian artist and great friend of the gallery, Vitaliy Nikolaevich Kulikov. The exhibition was planned by the artist himself during his lifetime as an anniversary exhibition.

The exhibition will include works from the last five years of the artist’s life that have never been exhibited before.

The exhibition will also feature two unfinished paintings. One of them, entitled “The Warrior’s Smile”, is only half completed. It should be noted that Kulikov hated war, considered his years of military service to have been time wasted, and deliberately did not celebrate February 23. Despite this, recent events in Ukraine led the artist to turn to the image of the warrior, but illness prevented him from completing the work.

In addition to the exhibition, the memorial program will include a pre-premiere screening of a biographical film about V. N. Kulikov (directed by Elena Grigorieva, produced by Channel 7), made possible through the active support of the media partners Channel 7 and the KultUra program.

At the request of the artist’s family, with the assistance of the gallery and other active cultural figures in Kharkiv, appeals have also been submitted to the Kharkiv City Council regarding the installation of a memorial plaque to V. N. Kulikov on the gallery façade, designed by his friend and colleague, sculptor Vladimir Kochmar. The choice of the gallery façade for the memorial plaque is no coincidence: the artist held ____ solo exhibitions here; within the gallery walls, Kulikov organized the graphic art competition he initiated; the Municipal Gallery organized his exhibitions in Kyiv (at Ya Gallery and the Modern Art Research Institute); with the gallery’s assistance, a monographic album dedicated to Vitaliy Nikolaevich was published; and it was in this exhibition hall that friends, colleagues, and admirers gathered in January of this year to bid farewell to the artist. Now we will open his first posthumous exhibition.

The project will also include open lectures and discussions as part of the theoretical platform, while VOVATANYA Gallery will host an exhibition of the artist’s lithographs.

An album of the artist’s graphic works and two exhibition catalogues are also being prepared for publication. Together with the aforementioned monographic album, they will provide the most comprehensive representation of V. N. Kulikov’s creative legacy.