The International Children's Exhibition in New York
Event Venue:
Yorkville Library222 E. 79th Street (btw 2nd and 3rd Ave)
New York, NY 10075, USA
Event Date:
November 30 - December 14, 2019 | 11 am - 5 pm
The Lazar Khidekel Society / Russian American Cultural Center and Vitebsk Center for Contemporary Art are pleased to present The International Children's Exhibition in New York
The International Children's Exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of UNOVIS (Utverditeli novogo iskusstva - Champions of New Art), created in People’s Art School in Vitebsk on February 14, 1920. The group of teachers and students was built around the most radical trend of the Avant-garde - Suprematism invented by Kazimir Malevich, and their collective work impregnated the visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries, foreshadowing not only modern architecture, but also conceptual art, urbanism, cosmism and environmental thinking.
Today, young talents from USA, the UK, Israel, Poland, Spain, Austria, Latvia, Moldova, Republic of Cyprus, Armenia, Antigua and Barbuda, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus pay tribute to the outstanding and unique legacy of Unovis and of the Vitebsk People’s Art School that was founded by Mark Chagall, who called himself the "pilot of painting" and "infringer of gravitation", and whose metaphorical flight over the roofs of his native Vitebsk anticipated the systematic attempt of Unovis cosmism to overcome gravity and go further, disrupting the usual “logic” and perceived order of the objective world.
Presented works demonstrate the effect of children's art education based on this powerful heritage, paying attention to the definitions of form, color, artistic quality and encouraging creative expression that goes beyond borders, exploring the links between art, architecture, design and science. Building upon this heritage exposes the roots of modern visual culture and makes children proud and confident in their search of new ways in art also being inspired by what Vitebsk teenagers accomplished 100 years ago.
We invite you to explore the world via children's paintings that are based on a journey to a magical world of imagination, which traces the current conversations about the role of art and nature in our society, offers us to rethink the urgent need for art education for children, which best prepares them for profound transformations in the society of the future. - Dr. Regina Khidekel
”And we declare ourselves free creators...” Suprematist Manifesto
The concept of the International Children's Art Exhibition is based on International cooperation in Art Education. The goal of this initiative is to search for young talent with creative minds and novel world views who can grasp the connection between unusual concepts and phenomena found in modern society. Building upon the works of Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich, we perceive art as a distinctive undertaking of the soul, concentrated effort of senses and thought, self- expression, and an urge to create beauty. One can create art anywhere and anytime. Works of many artists prove that. We invite you to explore the world via children's paintings that are based on an excursion to a magical world of imagination, the “personal heaven” of a junior artist so familiar to our famous fellow countryman Marc Chagall, and a journey to the non-objective and unique world of Kazimir Malevich.
Objectives:
• To support, popularize, and share methods of art education of children and youth.
• To develop an awareness of the visual arts as a system of emotional and value criteria for life and to enable us to draw from our common world cultural heritage.
Exhibition organizer: Museum “Vitebsk Center of Modern Art”, supported by Lazar Khidekel Society
Exhibition tour:
September 21-30, 2019 - Osvaldo Lobalzo Cultural Center, Sotogrande, Spain
November 30 - December 14, 2019 - Yorkville Library, NYPL, 222 E. 79th Street (btw 2nd and 3rd Ave), New York, NY 10075, USA
Poland (January – February 2020)
Belarus (March - April 2020)
PRESS:
Read "ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ СУПРЕМАТИЗМА ИЗ ИСПАНИИ В ВИТЕБСК" , SUR на русском (first Russian-language newspaper in Spain), Sept 27 - Oct 3, 2019, No. 329
Event photos by Andrey Prokofiev
The Lazar Khidekel Society is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established by the family of Lazar Khidekel and a group of distinguished art historians, museum specialists, and art supporters under the auspices of the Russian American Cultural Center (RACC) in New York, New York. The goal of the Lazar Khidekel Society is to sustain and preserve Lazar Khidekel's legacy in art, architecture, and design, and to advance the recognition of Lazar Khidekel (1904, Vitebsk – 1986, Leningrad), as one of the titans of the Russian Avant-garde - particularly the Suprematist movement - that laid the foundation for art and architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
