Eye Sea Gallery

With the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Russia, the perception of the underground as a location changed radically. From the first days of the war it was used as a shelter during air raids. People took documents, food, blankets and waited during air alarms around the city, and very often spent the whole night at stations. Even now, this facility is potentially ready to receive city residents at any time, serving as a shelter from rocket and drone attacks. The war brought a completely new relevance to many things that previously seemed completely familiar and routine. The future is still unclear for us.

The underground, where people living their usual lives descended in their everyday haste, was filled with fear. It became a haven for the slow expectation of safety, an oasis of hope in difficult times. Domestic chaos has supplanted the mute animal horror that filled the dark tunnels. Vladyslav Ryaboshtan’s canvases seem almost three-dimensional. They are filled only with questions to the viewer, wrapped in uncertainty. Words, feelings, realities – entwined in a nervous ball. New meanings and perceptions of regenerated structures emerged. Limited space, limited word frames, limited colour gamut lead to another vector and expand the range of emotions.

The exposition also has an audial part created by Oleksiy Podat and Dmytro Tsatiori.

Vladyslav Ryaboshtan was born in 1996 in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. Currently, he lives and works in Kyiv. In his works, Vladyslav studies the topic of industrial and underground landscapes of Ukraine. The artist works with painting, silk-screen printing, mixed media and photography.

Vladyslav Ryaboshtan’s exhibition at the Eye Sea Gallery runs from May 31 to June 19, 2024.