“Liubist” is a rarely used Ukrainian word that means the same as “love.” The same — yet not quite. Liubist carries an additional dimension — an all-encompassing sincerity, authenticity, and dramaturgy that Pavlo Mazai always seeks.
Dramaturgy and authenticity are his favorite words, and this very liubist culminates in a kind of self-portraited infinity — Mazai as a demiurge, once again creating heaven and earth, channeling this entire mad Universe through himself.
In his works, he is always alone, surrounded, in the epicenter of the elements. He is both egg and grain, fire and water, root and plowed soil, and a scythe striking stone.
It takes not only an insatiable artistic thirst but a certain creative audacity to close this eternal cycle of creation upon oneself.
And thirst is something Pavlo has plenty of. He still has no idea what “creative crisis” means — exhaustion and burnout, the usual woes of an artist’s unique life, somehow pass him by. Or maybe it’s he who bypasses them.
Moreover, Mazai says that right now he feels “a very powerful surge of creativity. I’ve never experienced such a strong creative rise as during the war.”
Life, despite everything, inspires him every day. He’s always in motion, always searching, always working — and always outside the city. Because in the city, there are walls. And walls don’t inspire. In the city, he prints his works and holds exhibitions.
Mazai works in series — some are born from things that suddenly catch his eye and instantly spark a concept, a theme, an idea. Others take longer to unfold, until all the pieces fall into place. Meticulousness and spontaneity are his signature.
In fact, Pavlo values photography because “it is silent,” because “it needs no words. It speaks differently and reaches everyone in their own way.”
This exhibition is a kind of extract from various cycles: Myron’s Land, The House Where I Am Not, Ovum, Metrica.
The most important. The most essential. The most sincere. The most authentic.
Liubist.
— Yulia Piatetska
Exhibition curator: Alina Ocheretiana
June 20, 5:00 PM — Korsaks’ Museum of Modern Ukrainian Art
Lutsk, 1 Ivana Korsaka Street
Admission is free. You are warmly invited.
