CALGARY

TARAS POLATAIKO

15 MAY to 27 JUNE, 2015
 

CURATED by ELYSIA TURNER-LECHELT

Barbara Edwards Contemporary, Calgary is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new works by Ukranian born, Canadian artist, Taras Polataiko. This show will feature his series War. 11 Portraits created during the artist’s recent return to the Ukraine in light of the current political strife and conflict in his homeland. Polataiko interviewed and had photographed a number of the combatants, patients at the Clinical Military Hospital in Kyiv.  Their personal stories are recounted by accompanying sound tapes.  In the images, none of their physical ailments are visually aparent, instead, we are presented with haunting expressions that tell of damages that reside off-camera. 

Internationally acclaimed, Polataiko’s work takes on many forms from painting, photography, video and performance, to cultural and political interventions in response to historical events. Through his manifold manipulations, Polataiko has achieved a conceptually rigorous and thematically cohesive practice concerned with notions of rupture and repair.

Ukranian-born Polataiko, emigrated to Canada in 1989. He was educated at Moscow State Stroganov University of Fine and Industrial Arts and earned an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (1993). For the past six years, Polataiko worked as an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge. His work has been presented to international acclaim, notably: Soros International Center for Contemporary Art (Kyiv); Antoni Tapies Foundation (Barcelona); Artspace (Sydney); National Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade); National Museum of Art (Lithuania); 2002 São Paulo Biennale. and widely in Canada including  Art Gallery of Hamilton; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; MacKenzie Art Gallery; Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina) and Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon), Musée d’Art Contemporain (Montreal) among others. 

Click HERE to read a recent Canadian Art interview between Taras Polataiko and David Balzer discussing Polataiko's views on the current state of art in Ukraine.

Guest curator, Elysia Turner-Lechelt, completed her BA in Art History in 2012 and is currently completing her MA in Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary. During her employment with MOCA Calgary and later Contemporary Calgary she helped organize numerous exhibitions and events including Andy Warhol: The Athlete Series and Cinco de Mayo 2012-2014.

Taras Polataiko, Calgary, 2015 from Barbara Edwards Contemporary on Vimeo.

1114 11 Street SW
Calgary, AB T2R 1P1

587 349 2014
viviane@becontemporary.com