Artem Volokitin

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Exhibited at PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2014

Overview
Artem Volokitin is one of the brightest and most influential representatives of Ukraine’s new generation of contemporary artists. 
 
Born in 1981 in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, Volokitin graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Arts and Design in 2005. In response to the turmoil and violence that erupted in Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in early 2014, Volokitin started to create works that depict images of violent explosions. The artist fled Ukraine when the war started in March 2022 and is now adapting to a new life in Potsdam, Germany, with his family of five children. 
 
With light being central to his artistic expression, his new series is a continuity of his previous works with nuanced developments that reflect his recent traumatic experiences. In the paintings, Volokitin composes Baroque-inspired, sculptural clouds to represent a translucent, dynamic barrier that is pierced by bold, electrifying light beams. The direct dazzling light rays represent the artist’s determined search for hope against a backdrop of uncertainty, fear and sadness. Employing the canvas as the frame that refracts light boundlessly, Volokitin visualises his self-reflexive journey that accumulates energy and continual tension. 
 
As a prominent figure of the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale, Volokitin was the first artist to receive the PinchukArtCentre Main Prize, an award for early-career Ukrainian artists in 2009. A master of painting with light and shadow, he was nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize in 2010 and completed an internship in the London studio of Antony Gormley that same year. He has exhibited at the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv; Saatchi Gallery, London; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; the Ukrainian Institute of America, New York. Volokitin’s works are part of numerous private and public collections in Europe and America.
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