CURATED by ELYSIA TURNER-LECHELT
We are proud to present a solo exhibition of new works by Ukranian born, Canadian artist, Taras Polataiko. This show features his series War. 11 Portraits created during the artist’s recent return to the Ukraine in light of the current political strife and conflict in his homeland. Polataiko interviewed and had photographed a number of the combatants, patients at the Clinical Military Hospital in Kyiv. Their personal stories are recounted by accompanying sound tapes. In the images, none of their physical ailments are visually aparent, instead, we are presented with haunting expressions telling of wounds that reside off-camera.
Internationally acclaimed, Polataiko’s work takes on many forms from painting, photography, video and performance, to cultural and political interventions in response to historical events. Through his manifold manipulations, Polataiko has achieved a conceptually rigorous and thematically cohesive practice concerned with notions of rupture and repair.
Uranian-born, Polataiko emigrated to Canada in 1989. He was educated at Moscow State Stroganov University of Fine and Industrial Arts and earned an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (1993). Polataiko has previously worked as an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge. His work has been presented to international acclaim, notably: Soros International Center for Contemporary Art (Kyiv); Antoni Tapies Foundation (Barcelona); Artspace (Sydney); National Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade); National Museum of Art (Lithuania); 2002 São Paulo Biennale. and widely in Canada including Art Gallery of Hamilton; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; MacKenzie Art Gallery; Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina) and Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon), Musée d’Art Contemporain (Montreal) among others.
