VISUAL IMAGES OF WAR IN CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN PAINTING: WARRIOR ARTIST SERHIY HERASYMENKO

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the specifics of visual images of war in modern Ukrainian painting and identify the features of their artistic embodiment using the example of the work of S. Gerasimenko.
Research methodology. In the study of visual images of war, it is advisable to apply an interdisciplinary approach that combines art history, cultural studies and visual studies. War in art is considered as: a form of collective memory, a mechanism for symbolic representation of violence and resistance, a tool for constructing national identity, a way of emotionally processing traumatic experience. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive analysis of visual images of war in modern Ukrainian painting through the prism of a combination of artistic practice and the artist's direct military experience.
Practical significance. The results obtained can be used in exhibition activities (during the preparation of expositions dedicated to the theme of war in contemporary art), in museum and curatorial practice for the interpretation of works of war art, as well as in the educational process of higher art education institutions when teaching courses on contemporary Ukrainian art, visual culture and art practices of wartime.
Conclusions. Visual images of war in contemporary Ukrainian painting go beyond the limits of a purely representative function, turning into a complex tool for understanding reality, which combines emotional experience, symbolic language and cultural memory. A characteristic feature is the shift in emphasis from external events to the internal state of a person, which determines the active use of expressive, metaphorical and symbolic means. The individualization of artistic expression becomes particularly important when art appears as a form of personal testimony. In this context, the creative experience of S. Gerasimenko, who combines artistic practice with direct participation in the war, is indicative. His dual identity as an artist and a soldier determines the special depth of the artistic vision, in which the war appears as an experienced existential experience. By appealing to the figurative formula of «saints on the ruins of war», the artist combines sacred tradition with visual markers of destruction, creating a new type of artistic image – sacredness that survives among the ruins.