October 27 would have marked the 90th anniversary of Vitalii Kulikov’s birth. It has been almost ten years since his passing, yet his presence remains vivid in Kharkiv’s artistic life. Vitalii Mykolaiovych Kulikov was among the artists who helped define the local school of contemporary art in the second half of the twentieth century. His […]

Story 1: Water and Memory From 1957 to 1959, Vitalii Kulikov served in the army in Azerbaijan. When he returned home, his native town was gone. Novoheorhiivsk, which once stood on the banks of the Dnipro in the Kirovohrad region, had disappeared beneath the waters during the creation of the Kremenchuk Reservoir. The artist often […]

Story 2: Room No. 49 During his years in Kharkiv, Vitalii Kulikov worked in two studios. The first, located on Nimetskyi Descent (formerly Pushkinskyi), was passed on to him by the artist Oleksii Borysov. The second, on Kultury Street, became the master’s final refuge — the place where he created his last works.   Yet […]

Story 3: The Ironic Nonconformist Vitalii Kulikov consistently sought his own paths in form, plasticity, and symbolism. His graphics and painting often avoided overtly ideological narratives, turning instead to reflection and to questions of form and meaning. This approach, though not always explicitly political, did not fit within the dogmas of Socialist Realism or Soviet […]