Artist from Lutsk Sergii Radkevych created the mural «Saint Denis of Paris» within the project, organized by the association Le M.U.R. and a gallery of contemporary street art Galerie Mathgoth (France). Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation supported Sergii providing him a «travel grant for artists».
«In the communication process with the curators of the street gallery, Le Mur initial visual idea was changed. But the main concept of Mural wasn’t changed. It is a manifesto against violence. In a common dialogue, we decided to create a limit contact between France and Ukraine, because the problem of violence is important for these two countries. As in 2015 near the gallery, the attack took place, the main character of the Mural was deliberately chosen Saint Denis of Paris, who for their own beliefs and positions was tortured on the hill of Montmartre» - Sergii told about his idea.
According to him, the main idea of the project was to paint a portrait of a real historical figure who once lived in this location using visual iconographic plasticity close to Eastern Europe (including Ukraine).
«My task was to create a conceptual mural that would unite two separate countries. I had to show by work that among the subjects of aggression there neither friends nor strangers. This is a negative social phenomenon» - the artist said.
According to the terms the organizers, Sergii had only one day to create the mural. The lifetime of the mural was two weeks from the date of implementation.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Sergii Radkevych was born in 1987 in Lutsk. He graduated the Lviv National Academy of Arts, department of monumental painting. His priorities are monumental painting, street art, painting, drawing. He is one of the organizers of the street art festival BLACK CIRCLE FESTIVAL. He won the second PinchukArtPrize Special Award in 2011.
Sergii`s works are included the private collections in the USA, France, Poland, Egypt, Ukraine, Russia and in the museum collection of the Street Art Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia).
Sergii lives and works in Lviv, Ukraine.
The Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation provides travel grants for travel costs for Ukrainian artists to exchange artistic experience at the international level and to improve cooperation between Ukrainian and foreign artists. These grants give Ukrainian artists the opportunity to present their achievements around the world.
