Oleksii Revika

Oleksii is a Ukrainian artist born in the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhia region in 1979. He graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv, specializing in art history, and became the organizer of the project “CultOffice”, aimed at popularizing young Ukrainian artists in the business environment. Later he completed his studies at the International Association of Art Therapists of Ukraine. Based on art therapy techniques “karakuli”, he developed his own visual language for working in graphic media. He is the author of several graphic series united in one cycle called “Premonition”, dedicated to Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine. He collaborated as an illustrator on political and social themes with the media resource “Bily-Vily”, covering issues of corruption, diplomacy, and the military. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has been working on a series of posters called “Red Line”. The first work of the series was a story about Crimea. The process of the poster creation was interrupted by rocket shelling of Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. Since the spring of 2022, works from this series have become part of various anti-war projects involving Ukrainian artists, both in Ukraine and in many cities in Europe and the United States.

Some works from this series have sparked significant feedback and resonance and have contributed to spreading information about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The artwork “Loss” was involved in the diplomatic mission of the President of Ukraine during a visit to the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, in the Vatican. The most horrific consequences of Russian aggression are the deaths of Ukrainian children, the killing of the future, inflicting severe psychological trauma, abductions, and violence:

“All these messages I managed to formulate in one simple and understandable image of the artwork - “Loss”. Of course, the meeting of the President of Ukraine with the head of the Catholic Church caused considerable “burning” in Russia, and the work “Loss,” at that time, became an important tool for understanding what the modern civilized world is facing. This act confirms and distinguishes the uniqueness of Ukrainian society, which since the restoration of Ukraine’s independence has actively engaged art as a resistance element against injustice. “The idea of ​​creating the Red Line poster series arose on the eve of Russia’s large-scale invasion, and I had already begun work on it. The main artistic tool in creating the poster series is a ballpoint pen, which allows complex plots to be realized in a concise manner, enriching the work with volume and depth of expression. Understanding that in the first weeks of the invasion, Ukrainians have the same mixture of feelings and experiences helped to find certain components for clear artistic expression. The house - as a border, the body - as an individuality, are the main characters of my works. The goal of the work was to show not the weakness and helplessness of Ukrainians against the Moscow onslaught, but the anger and unbearable desire for resistance and life. Orienting towards the European viewer, I counted on evoking empathy and sharp emotional sympathy for Ukrainians who resist on the front lines, in occupation, and in the rear. Relying on the empathy of Europeans is considered absolutely appropriate, given the forced and mass exodus of Ukrainian women and children to EU countries. Confirmation of this was and remains the personal story of my children and wife, who managed to leave in the first days and were accepted in one of the EU countries.”