"I really fell in love with my native city of Lviv after living in Kyiv for twenty years. Today, Lviv is a city of opportunities"
Art manager, gallerist and musician Pavlo Hudimov will help us to walk around our favourite Lviv locations and get to know Art.
Watch how it all happened in the video and read the article.
Stryiskyi park
It is the park where I was formed, and my childhood was spent. I remember those photos in the family albums, where my grandfather carries me in a stroller, and I lie in it so tiny.
And from those moments, I breathed the air of Stryiskyi Park. I remember this luxurious purple beech, the parterre, the Kilinsky monument. For me, Stryiskyi Park remains a place of returning home to my roots. And from my childhood until now, he has not changed at all for me.
It seems to me the park has always been as it is now. No one remembers how Arnold Rering planted it with small trees, and it looked like a small desert on the hills. Now the park is in its peak form.
There is a beautiful natural pond here, where since 1966, one of Yaroslav Motyka's sculptures - "Lily", has been located.
For me, Stryiskyi Park is full of stories, memories, artefacts, and art objects. He is a real diamond in the culture of Lviv.
I remember the greenhouse in the park in two states.
The first is the state in which she was in my childhood.
At that time, it was mysterious and cosmic for me because I was entering a glass volume with plants. And the second state - abandoned and with broken windows. Now I am glad that she is being cared for and that she continues to live.
Chereshneva Street
There was once an officer's colony and these houses were built more than 100 years ago. It is an example of what an oasis in the centre of Lviv looks like. There are no high fences that block gardens and views.
You walk and can admire flowers and trees. And also to see how people live, and sometimes even parties that can take place here. And it's all 5 minutes to the city centre.
Petrushevych Palace
The history of the general cultural significance of the national scale is connected with the Palace. Once upon a time, the young group "Okean Elzy" decided to celebrate its 2.5 years.
It was in 1996. And actually, here we organized a concert called "Two and a half". And even earlier, we held a concert here with the German band "Blue Eyes".
Petrushevych Palace was remembered by all of us as our musical mecca. We organized concerts here ourselves.
And who knew that after so many years, the Ya Gallery Art Centre would open opposite the Palace.
Ya Gallery
8 Shota Rustaveli St.
For me, Ya Gallery is two in one.
The first is a restored original apartment. It preserves an interesting geometric stucco, which is similar to the one that can be seen in Vienna. There are restored "piets" (stoves) without decorative panels but with a stove crown.
People come here to look at the fantastic stoves collection, modern art and antique furniture.
All these items create a certain environment but are not just decor. They are all meaningful from a collection point of view and help people experience space and art.
Visitors can look at art in the Ya Gallery exhibition space. Because there are pauses here: doors, windows, piets.
And they can rest and relax: take a book and coffee, sit in a chair, read and enjoy the exhibition or the view of the Petrushevych Palace.
And in the end, the visitors are left with something about the gallery, the exhibition and me.
National Forestry University and Arboretum
1 O. Kobylianska St.
For five years, the university became for me not just an alma mater but a place of attraction where we gathered as a group. At that time, I was still in love with a girl from a parallel group, so these were also romantic years.
While studying on a scholarship, I bought my first guitar.
And, the university became the development vector for "Okean Elzy" because we held band rehearsals in the dormitory in the evenings.
I was lucky to study at the department of landscape architecture. Here near the department is not a simple area - it is an arboretum with rare trees and plants.
It was arranged by Arnold Rering, the chief gardener of Lviv. There is also a museum of forest fauna and a department of drawing, where we learned to draw.
No one thought then that I would work as a profession. But, now I am engaged in landscape architecture because I consult Lviv parks as an expert and do certain projects.
I am glad that I studied at Forestry University, and these student years were the happiest for me.
Market near the Ivan Fedorov monument
I always find here some things from the Polish period, something from the modernist era, furniture, Soviet glass or ceramics. Here you can sometimes come across very interesting things, especially amazing books and types of vinyl. For example, I once acquired a selection of Joe Dassin's original French records.
Exhibition "Muses are not silent"
From the first days of the war, I collected folklore that was born on social media. These were memes, some jokes. I decided to publish the collected selections on my Facebook page. And, then I started filming video interviews with artists on the YouTube channel "Ya Gallery" and called these releases "Muses are not silent". It is how this project was born.
And, then I realized that there are a significant number of artists, photographers, and musicians who experience these events, feel them and create amazing things. When you visit the exhibition, you will understand that it is not pessimistic.
The exhibition "Muses are not silent" collected the works of more than 60 Ukrainian artists. In the "Unexpected/Predicted" hall, there are paintings by Ukrainian contemporary artists who felt this tension, such as Andrii Humaniuk's painting "The Road. A tank drove by, probably a Russian one" 2009 year. They were created even before the events of 2014.
Most of the works were created 3-4 months ago and are a reaction to the war and events that are happening.
Here are paintings, photographs, videos, graphic design, models of protection of architectural heritage from the possible threat of bombings, and much more.
In addition to the exhibition "Muses are not silent" in the Powder Tower, we hold parallel events and evenings.
At Ya Gallery, we are organizing a parallel exhibition - "Modern Ukrainian Landscape", of photos by Maksym Dondiuk, which were taken during the current war and in 2017 in Donbas.
