Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus

Chairman of the public association Belarusian Union of Artists Gleb Otchik, “When the artist is pulled out of his or her comfort zone, it excites this person, he or she becomes more enterprising, active, assertive.”

The Belarusian Union of Artists prepared and presented a large exhibition dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people. The exposition has every chance of becoming the central artistic event of the Year of Historical Memory. Its main zest is the work of the classics of Belarusian painting and our contemporaries, members of the Studio of Military Artists, authors from the regions... Alas, today there are almost no people left in the creative workshop who themselves survived the war, genocide or the Holocaust. Nevertheless, Belarusian craftsmen again and again turn to the military theme. The Memory of Generations exhibition is their reflection on the theme of the history of the war, stories about the pain and trauma that it brings. The Union of Artists promised that the project will be presented in other regions after Minsk.
Right after the opening of the exhibition, we talked with Chairman of the public association Belarusian Union of Artists, laureate of the Presidential Prize for Spiritual Revival Gleb Otchik about traditions and almost direct continuity by modern masters in the reflection of the theme of the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, state orders and whether the artist’s attitude to his or her work should change depending on the assigned task.
The pride of place goes to two works. One depicts a stork in the sky surrounded by military aircraft. In the centre of the second picture is a broken tank in a flowering, probably spring field.

“It is called One Cannot Conquer Alone. Both works are, in fact, an allegory of good and evil, strength and moral values. They were written for the Peacetime exhibition, which I coordinated. However, we conceived this project back in 2019. It turns out that they became harbingers to some extent?..”
– True art, they say, must always be one step ahead of time. And how do members of your creative union react to current political events?
– Many artists after 2020 have written worthy works of social themes.
I especially want to commend young authors, students of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. Until 2020, they were, let’s say... in the comfort zone. Now they have become more active, their passivity has gone. And this is quite understandable: when there is stability, a person calms down.
And when he or she is pulled out of his or her comfort zone, it excites this person, he or she becomes more enterprising, active, assertive — especially concerning the work. Another thing is that part of our art projects simply got lost, fell out of sight of the media as well amid the ongoing political events (both in Belarus and abroad). When the Head of State declared 2022 the Year of Historical Memory, we were the first to react: we quickly started preparing a large exhibition on the theme of the celebration of historical memory. We worked on it for two months, selected works from the funds, and finally presented an exhibition at the Republican Art Gallery... Then a special military operation began in Ukraine, and people’s priorities shifted to basic needs, but not to art.

– Recently, the indifferent public reproaches the Union of Artists for the lack of works on socially significant topics on social networks. How fair is this? In fact, are there any works of patriotic themes created by our contemporaries?
– All state orders that our masters carry out, actually, is our response to time. The Head of State unveiled a monument to Metropolitan Filaret near the walls of the Holy Spirit Cathedral on Radonitsa. A team of authors led by our sculptor Andrei Khotyanovsky worked on the creation of the monument. A little earlier, a memorial was opened on the site of the burned village of Ola in the Svetlogorsk District, and a member of the Union of Artists Valery Malakhov worked on it. Let us also recall the Memorial Complex Commemorating the Burned Villages of Mogilev Region in Borki, Kirovsk District… These are the tasks that our masters responded to with pleasure. In addition, not so long ago, the Union of Artists, together with the Ministry of Culture, held a competition for the best patriotic poster, where I was the chairman of the jury. We received over 500 works! It means that the artists are not messing around. Perhaps our shortcoming is that we need to interact more actively with the media, talk more about our projects, but we will try to fix this.
– Recently, the Art-Minsk — the largest metropolitan art festival has opened in the Art Palace. Last year, serious questions have been raised concerning the selection of works. Did the coordinators take these points into account?
– Let’s start with the fact that the Union of Artists only rented out the site of the Art Palace, but did not itself select works. Moreover, I know that the organisers had quite serious approach towards the selection. 28 works were deselected, and about seven more did not receive permission from specialists from the Ministry of Culture. But even after reviewing the works by professionals, there were those that caused a negative reaction among visitors. As for the current festival, we have tightened the selection procedure. I don’t think there will be any problems.
– Do you have time for your own creativity amid concerns with the Union of Artists?
– I’m trying to make the time.

I continue the Peacetime series, and I hope to show it this year. But for now I think more about the affairs of the Union. We continue to work with the Slutsk Museum of Local History. In 2023, the city will become the cultural capital of Belarus, there is a plan to make a dozen art objects there in the form of painted ‘Slutsk Bere’ — this is a variety of pear that is considered one of the symbols of the region.
We painted sculptures of lions in Mogilev last year — and received great feedback. Therefore, we want to repeat such an art project in Slutsk. At the same time, we are working on two halls of the Old Castle in Grodno: the Alabaster Hall and the castle chapel, which, we hope, will soon open to visitors. We will also pay attention to memorable anniversaries, including the 140th anniversary of the birth of Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas. We will hold an international plein-air with the participation of artists from Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. I can already say that the opening of the exhibition will take place at the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk.

sb.by