The Odesa Literary Museum opened an exhibition of Mykhailo Pozhivanov's painting "Life's Crossroads", which will last until October 17.
The personal exhibition of canvases painted in the style of watercolor painting presents works from 2016-2022, in which the theme of the city and human existence is present.
"No matter how difficult it is for us now in the conditions of the war, Ukrainians must think about the future and rebuild, resuscitate our land and our souls, give advice to emotions and feelings," Mykhailo Pozhivanov said at the opening of the exhibition.
Thoughts and memories are transformed in the paintings, a new vision of the world filled with deep meanings is created, and ruined intersections become paths of light.
"Colorful majority of gold, or droplet fatigue in still lifes, or the mysterious mystery of female figures, or a blur of thick reds with pinks, light greens with pale yellow horizons and the cry of blue skies above them with white clouds... What a happiness to feel like an artist! Mykhailo Pozhivanov felt this in dozens of masterfully painted canvases," says Professor, Doctor of Art History Oleksandr Fedoruk.
Also at the opening of the exhibition, Mykhailo Pozhivanov presented his book "The Book of the City", which was written even before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. In it, the author explains the basics of the urban planning policy of Ukrainian cities today in view of the development of technologies and requirements.
But the main thing, according to Mykhailo Pozhivanov, is the ideology of the city, which should become comfortable, safe and convenient: "It is very important to correctly formulate the criteria of the city's urban planning policy and the sources of filling its budget at the initial stage of design. And it depends on the peculiarities of its location, availability of minerals, logistics, etc. After all, cities are industrial, resort, trade, or mixed in terms of earning. In the book, I consider all types of cities, but the main characteristics for any city are comfort and convenience for its inhabitants.
Mykhailo Pozhivanov is a famous politician, public figure, scientist, philanthropist and artist. He was born in the city of Dnipro, graduated as a metallurgical engineer, and defended his PhD thesis. In the doctoral program of the Dnipropetrovsk National Metallurgical Academy, he defended his doctoral dissertation in technical sciences. In 1996, he received the academic title of professor.
People's deputy of Ukraine of II, IV, V and VI convocations, headed the city of Mariupol (1994-1998), was deputy mayor of Kyiv (1999-2005) and deputy minister of economy of Ukraine (2008-2010).
He heads the NGO "Municipal Reforms Foundation "Magdeburg Law". In 2009, he founded the art gallery "AVS-art" in Kyiv. Currently, he heads the party organization of VO "Batkivshchyna" in the city of Odesa.
He studied painting privately with Ferdinand Goetz (Austria), at the painting and drawing studio "L.Studio" (Ukraine) and with Anatoly Furlet (Ukraine). Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine since 2021.
The head of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Kostyantyn Chernyavskyi, executive secretary of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine Mykola Hrytsenko, mayor of Lviv 1994-2002, Minister of the Ministry of Regional Development 2005-2010 Vasyl Kuybida, poet, translator, Vasyl Stepanenko, a member of the NSPU and many other outstanding cultural and artistic figures of Odessa and Ukraine.
At the end of the opening of the exhibition, the students of the Odesa National Academy of Music under the leadership of People's Artist of Ukraine Vira Revenko performed in front of the audience.
