Dymchuk Gallery presents Collection. Oleksandr Hnylytskyi & Oleg Tistol, continuing its series of exhibitions dedicated to the gallery’s collection. The exhibition features paintings from 2008 by Oleksandr Hnylytskyi and works from the Mountains and S.C.C. series by Oleg Tistol.
Oleksandr Hnylytskyі (1961–2009) was born in Kharkiv and studied monumental art at the Kyiv State Art Institute. A representative of the New Ukrainian Wave, he was a member of the artistic squat Parcommune and a pioneer of Ukrainian video art. He lived and worked in Kyiv and Munich.
Hnylytskyi is best known for his hyperrealistic paintings. Many of his works feature self-portraits reflected in mirrored surfaces—water, metal, and glass. By portraying himself through optical distortion, the artist emphasized self-irony while exploring both aesthetic and psychoanalytical aspects of reflection. The exhibition includes three paintings created in the final year of his life.
Oleg Tistol (b. 1960, Vradivka, Mykolaiv region) studied painting at the Republican Art High School named after T. Shevchenko and later graduated from the Lviv State Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts. He is one of the most prominent Ukrainian artists and a key representative of the New Ukrainian Wave. From 1992 to 2005, he was a member of the Natsprom collective. He lives and works in Kyiv.
Tistol is widely known for his painting cycles, including S.C.C., Mountains, National Geography, and The Ukrainian Money Project. His works examine stereotypes, historical imagery, and symbols associated with Ukrainian identity. In the series S.C.C. (Southern Coast of Crimea), he depicts a palm tree as a symbol of utopian space, a dream of paradise, and at the same time, raises the issue of the mass stereotype about an easy and comfortable life. In the Mountains series, he explores the imagery of mountains, continuing his fusion of sacred symbolism with mass culture. His works remain highly relevant today; the palm trees evoke memories of Crimea, while the peaks symbolize resilience and victory.
Oleksandr Hnylytskyi and Oleg Tistol were integral to the artistic environment that shaped the cultural landscape of Ukraine in the 1990s. As members of the New Wave generation, they reinterpreted the Soviet legacy while seeking new visual forms to express Ukrainian identity. Despite their different approaches, their works create a unique dialogue between the sacred and the mundane, reality and myth.
The artists’ works were often exhibited in the same group shows in Ukraine and abroad. In 2009, the paintings Gurzuf by Oleg Tistol and Plumbing (Self-Portrait) by Oleksandr Hnylytskyi were presented side by side in Odesa as part of the curatorial project RESTART. Contemporary Art Exhibition by Anatoliy Dymchuk. This event was a landmark for Odesa and the Ukrainian art scene, featuring works by over 40 artists and fostering dialogue among key figures in contemporary art.
The collection of Anatoliy Dymchuk is one of the largest private art collections in Ukraine, primarily featuring works by Ukrainian and, specifically, Odesa-based artists. It comprises over 3,000 pieces from the 19th to the 21st centuries, some of which will be on show at Dymchuk Gallery this year.
One of its most valuable assets is a corpus of works by the renowned 20th-century Odesa artist Yuriy Yegorov, totaling approximately 600 pieces. The collection is notable for its internal structure, consisting of several sub-collections. A significant segment is the largest in the world compilation of works by Odesa nonconformists, including Oleksandr Anufriyev, Valeriy Basanets, Oleg Voloshinov, Viktor Maryniuk, Lyudmyla Yastreb, Yevhen Rakhmanin, Volodymyr Strelnikov, Valentyn Khrushch, Anatoliy Shopin, and others.
Another segment focuses on contemporary art, featuring works by leading Ukrainian artists such as Oleksandr Hnylytskyi, Oleg Tistol, Arsen Savadov, Oleh Holosiy, Oleksandr Roitburd, Valeria Trubina, Vasyl Tsagolov, Yuriy Solomko, Oleksandr Zhyvotkov, Zhanna Kadyrova, Illya Chichkan, Artem Volokitin, Vlada Ralko, Ihor Husiev, Bondero, and others.