Art and War in Ukraine. Part 5. Artem Azarov

Artem Azarov was an artist in Kharkiv. All the images below are his works - his self-portraits, sketches of Kharkiv, still lifes, him working on his diploma painting. You can see more on instagram and on his site: https://arteme.art/

Since 2017, he has carried out 6 combat deployments to Donbas - defending Ukraine. His military call-name was "Artist". He died at the age of 26 in March of 2022 - while defending his country. 

You can read more - in English - about his life and works here: https://arteme.art/en/biography-3/

Art and War in Ukraine. Part 4. Mistograf - a family of urban sketchers from Kharkiv.

"Mistograf" - is a family of architects and urbanists. Tanja and Jaroslav and their three kids (Yulia, Olya, and Marko) were living in Kharkiv, Ukraine. When the war with russia began on 24th of February, 2022 they, together with their parents, spent 5 days hiding in the basement of one of the buildings in the center of the city. They left Kharkiv for Lviv on a train that was filled to the brim with people and pets. Since then they made a camp many miles away from home in a tiny village in the Mountains of Ukraine. From there they travel and tell stories about different cities of Ukraine, how they lived before and how they live during war.

Despite everything that is happening in Ukraine this family kept drawing through whatever was happening to them. They were drawing while hiding in the basement (when Kharkiv was shelled many times a day). They were drawing through evacuation and then moving from place to place. Without much materials at first but never stopping they drew parts of Ukraine as they moved through and then after they settled a bit, they started traveling around Ukraine sharing their stories with others in the form of bi-monthly zines/newspapers. 

I love that kids contribute to these publications and maps are my favorite images for a long look but even from a quick flip through the pages you get to know both the place and the family a bit. I enjoy popping up on their youtube where you can see some videos from the travel and events and how Tanja and Jaroslav create works together. Mixture of drawings from life with cartoons and comics, use of text in sketches, interesting notes about working on location, interviews with locals - all can be found there. Also, Mistograf's work is an example of how people brought their Ukrainian language to a new level and they inspire me in their writing too. 

They have a whole series now - covering the cities of Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and small cities of the Lviv region and there will be one about Kharkiv - but that is a story for another post! 

Right now you can read these in Ukrainian but there is an English version for Ivano-Frankivsk and others are in the works. 

You can learn more about this amazing family of artists and sketchers at the English version of their site:

https://www.mistograf.com/en - you will find ways to support them via PayPal or Patreon (and on the site as well). 

Art and War in Ukraine. Part 3. Aza Nizi Maza - art studio.

Aza Nizi Maza is an experimental art studio in Kharkiv. This is a group of artists working with people of all ages and a wide range of special needs and the work that they do was very interesting and inspiring for quite a few years now. The studio is originally located in a bomb shelter that was left after WWII - it used to be a place for art studios for many artists where I used to do to see "real artists at work". It was a dark and strange place but slowly some great people turned it into a "cave of wonders" and Aza Nizi Maza took it to a new level. 

Many people went to this shelter when the war started. 

I don't know the whole story but when the bombing became a new life for kids in Kharkiv, Aza Nizi Maza went to the subway where many kids in were living. And they started making art with the kids. Bringing their ability to support kids and give them power, materials, and encouragement to draw their hearts out. And that is priceless! 

They slowly covered subway walls with papers and covered them with artworks and words, and then they went beyond. 

Today the studio is back to regular classes. And lots of kids are drawing there. They are making some bags with the kids' artwork, organizing exhibits, and making sure that amid the horror of this war there is light and a place where people are welcome to come and work on their art, have some warm food and some light. It is now a safe and colorful place in so many senses. You can support them by donating to their paypal or purchasing bags with the artworks made in the studio.

These are works created during the war:
The text is in Ukrainian and says: "Let there be no death today. Not for Mom, not for Dad, not for me, not for my goldfish" - here is a link to this work on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbelAzANLN3/
 

This one says: "We will win and make everything better" 

Here is an example of the bags: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgWCOFvIRPe/

August 2011: Drawing with Kids - Strawflowers

August 2011: Drawing with Kids - Strawflowers, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

As posted before I am going through a process of conquering my sketchbook paper through making a series of drawings and paintings of these fiery strawflowers. Today a bunch of kids joined me in the process and here are results: