My practice concerns spheres of society, politics and art. The issues of poverty and economic imbalance are the main themes that permeate my entire practice. I pay great attention to spontaneity and unpredictability of processes. Everyday observations serve as impulses for the beginning of a new work, the outcome of which is unknown. I oscillate between the serious and the humorous until I can no longer distinguish between the two, removing myself from judgment but rather observing the complexities and nuances of different perspectives. Utilizing a wide range of media, such as painting, sculpture, installation, film, and more, the projects have a multimedia character. Additionally, my activity includes curatorial and collective approaches.
Craft and handwork, which my family has been engaged in, prompted me to create things such as clothing, interior items, household items. Eventually it led me to pursue art, particularly painting. Initially, the reuse of found, gifted, or second-hand materials not intended for painting was employed for the sake of economy and new approaches. The very materiality of the completed work served as evidence of poverty and economic instability, which is a central theme of my practice. Further explorations have focused on achieving the best possible results through maximum optimisation of materials and resources.
The interest in the broad and free use of means and information is linked to their scarcity in the 90s and 00s, which coincided with time of my upbringing. The lack of quality education in a small town fostered my pursuit of self-education, the acquisition of experience, and the self-organization of cultural processes, which became my focus in itself. Subsequently, in search of education, I moved to Warsaw for a few years, and later to Kyiv, where I lived until the outbreak of the full-scale war. To some extent, Western fetishisation spurred the desire to change the current state of affairs, but at the same time, the surrounding reality significantly influenced the formation of my sensibility and development.
I am inspired by a broad and diverse spectrum of influences. It includes modernist, minimalist, conceptual, postmodernist, and post-internet approaches. There are also less institutionalised influences, such as naive art, kitsch, and graffiti, which marked the beginning of my practice. Combining elements of Ukrainian origin with Western influences, I focus on the search for my own identity. I believe that the application of diverse knowledge only broadens the horizon of possibilities, and it is through their combination that the evolutionary process is built.
The starting point of my practice is reflection on the development of painting from history to the present day. The main question is what a contemporary painting should be. Based on this, I explore the changes in painting starting from the late 19th century (when it began to move away from previous traditional efforts to convey the likeness of the surrounding reality) to the first decade of the 21st century. Utilizing modern technologies, my work often begins with a digital image. I take many photos of what catches my attention, as well as save images from the internet. Based on those, I create sketches, using a whole range of tools, particularly digitalisation, which helps isolate, transform, and assemble the necessary elements.
I am interested in combining three participants: the human, the computer, and the painting medium. Majority of my works reflect this interaction.
I create works that I feel are lacking in the world. Because I believe that in art, it is not the ability to convey the essence of the observed object that is important, but the ability to convey our feelings toward the observed object.Yevgen Samborsky, born in Ivano-Frankivsk city, Ukraine. Graduated the Art Institute of the Carpathian National University (2005). Received a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture (2009, 2012). The winner of the Main Prize of the competition for young ukrainian artists MUHI (2012). Initiator and founder of Open Group (2012), with which won the First PinchukArtCentre Special Prize in (2013). Winner of the Dymchuk Gallery Open Call for Young Ukrainian Artists (2017), nominee of the PinchukArtCentre Award (2018). Curator of the Residence for Artists in Ivano-Frankivsk (2015) and the International Festival of Contemporary Art Porto Franko (2018). Curator and teacher of the contemporary art course in KAMA Kyiv Academy of Media Arts (2019-2022). Lives and works in London.
SOLO PROJECTS
2019 СЕ 049201, Voloshyn gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Action, Chech Gallery, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2018 Down the Rabbit Hole, Closer Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 Untitled, Karas Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 Beautiful exhibition, Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 Laboratory of Friends, Children social-psychological rehabilitation centre, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2016 Ivano-Frankivsk Is Speaking, Psychiatric hospital, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2016 We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for, Center for Contemporary Art, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2015 Sketches from nature, Port Creative Hub, Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 Questions. An attempt of dialogue. And more of something important, Kyiv art gallery Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 Velvet Nothing, PROTVOR gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2011 Everything is identical with nothing, Dzyga gallery, Lviv, Ukraine
2009 21 Freedom, Heppen Transfer gallery, Warsaw, Poland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Art and Life in Times of War, Wuerttemberg Art Association, Stuttgart, Germany
2023 Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us, Jam Factory Art Center, Lviv, Ukraine
2023 How Are You? Ukrainian Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine
2023 Camera Obcura, Voloshyn gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 DISSIAPATIO H.G. Massimo Ligreggi gallery, Catania, Italy
2022 On the Varge, Wetterling gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2022 What now?, Exhibitions Bureau/Polish Modern Art Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
2022 What is Depicted Here?, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2022 When Faith Moves Mountains, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 Working Room, A:D: Curatorial, Berlin, Germany
2022 Working room, Independent Space Index 2022, Vienna, Austria
2022 Working room, Asortymentna kimnata gallery, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2022 Yevgen Samborsky & Eliash Strongowsky, Reykjavic, Iceland
2022 Memory on Her Face, Miami, USA
2022 The Captured House, Berlin, Germany
2021 5 years ago, Voloshyn gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 II Biennale of Young Art, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2019 City Scanning Session, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2018 BIEN URBAIN, Besancon, France
2018 Where Do We Go From Here? IZOLYATSIA, Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 Exhibition of PinchukArtCentre Prize nominees, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 Ostrale, International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Dresden, Germany
2017 Show Promise, Lviv Art Palace, Lviv, Ukraine
2017 Childhood dream, Arsenal gallery, Bialystok, Poland
2016 Archaeology, Margines gallery, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2016 Art of Galicia ХХ century - early ХХI century, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, Ukraine
2016 Nomada, Kelce, Poland
2014 Postcards from Maidan, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
2014 4 Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, Russia
2013 Ars longa, vita brevis (with Open Group), PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 Final exhibition of the first Kyiv residence KYIV AIR
2013 Component of presence, Small Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 UKRAINE NOW, Czech Centres, Prague, Czech Republic
2013 Introversion, M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 MUHI-2012, MODERN ART RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 Factory overlooking the lake, Foundation for Promoting Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
2012 Ukrainian Body, Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 Shape of the void, Bottega gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 Limit, Week of Contemporary Art, Dzyga gallery, Lviv, Ukraine
2011 Fortmissia festival, Lviv, Ukraine
2011 Collective dreams, MODERN ART RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 Festival Night culture, Lublin, Poland
2010 Painters Painting A4 ballpen, Karas gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2009 East to Eden, Centre for contemporary art Solvay, Krakiv, Poland
2008 Throw it, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2006 This is Life, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
SCHOLARSHIP, RESIDENCIES, EVENTS
2018 Residence Zmina.Impulse, Bakhmut, Ukraine
2016 Residence Sorry We Have No Rooms Available, Uzhhorod, Ukraine
2015 Residence in Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia, Cyprus
2013 First Kyiv residence program for artists - KYIV AIR, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 Initiation and founder Open Group, Lviv, Ukraine
2012 Gaude Polonia - Scholarship of Polish Ministry of Culture, Warsaw, Poland
2009 Gaude Polonia - Scholarship of Polish Ministry of Culture, Warsaw, Poland
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2018 Porto Franko festival, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2016 Archaeology, Margines gallery, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2015 Residence for Artists in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
AWARDS
2018 Finalist of PinchukArtCentre Prize, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 The winner of the Open Call for young Ukrainian artists, Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 First Special Prize of the PinchukArtCentre with Open Group, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 The winner of the Main Prize of the competition for young ukrainian artists MUHI, Kyiv, Ukraine