KEVIN BERLIN

"KIEV DAYS / KIEV NIGHTS"

It is amazing that American art, which has been always associated with abstraction and pop-art, Pollock and Warhol, is represented by painters nowadays. They work and exhibit in New-York, art capital of second half of 20th century. First museums of contemporary art that educated new viewers and new artists appeared in this city. Here got accustomed Dadaism and surrealism. Here were noticed photography and new media. Kevin Berlin, whose creative work is exhibited in Ukraine for the first time, belongs to certain generation of New-York artists, who still work with oil on canvas. Moreover, Berlin embodies realistic direction of contemporary painting, insomuch it is possible in the end of postmodernism, after surrealism, hyper-realism, pop-art and conceptual art. To American audience he is well known for series of works, devoted to trivial things. His artistic eye has caught main symbols of consumerism and glamour – designer bags, Chinese cigarette packs and modeling business. With realistic calculation and enviable impartiality he images hallucinogenic reality, a dream, an illusion. Art project “Kiev-days. Kiev-nights” is a large scale canvases, where daytime stories are backstage images from opera theatre (Berlin portrayed young ballerinas), and nighttime subjects are pictures from nightclub “Decadence House”. It may seem that artist’s choice is strange. Ballet is used to be seen as exceptionally beautiful, and in Berlin’s work it is brought together with club crowd. Same delusive impression has order of shots. Berlin uses grotesque, and grotesque is critical method. We see eyes, gestures, feelings, passions, backstage stories, and tears of young ballerinas – and next to them are severe faces of bodyguards, tattooed bartenders, and naked furies. There are expression and impassivity, reality and theatre, passionate gestures and frozen poses, despair and control. It is not about interpreting the picture, the clue is to “read” author’s attitude. He is what? Lenient? Dismissed? Cynical? Anyways, artist is not showing it. As usual, Kiev Berlin is interested in representation of status, ambitions, passions, cultural codes… In everything what makes certain city special. There is no border between banal and aesthetical. By the way, naked girls in “Decadence House” might be ballerinas. We have self-knowledge and new interpretations of what about everyday life is, and what are relations with world, where two parallel realities cross, after all.

Maria Khruschak



There are many examples of studying female body thru representation of ballet dancers in history of arts: Rodin, for whom portrait professional dancers, Degas, who caught everyday life of ballerinas, and, of course, Toulouse-Lautrec, who virtually lived at cabaret backstage.

Kevin Berlin is not the first artist, who was making sketches during rehearsals in our theatre. And, I would say, it turned out into unexpected project. What makes me happy – is ballet propaganda.

Of course, many artists portray ballet dancers, but not all of them are known to wide audience. The same story might happen to Kevin Berlin, as it was with Anastasia Volochkova – she is famous in post-soviet countries, whatever people say about her. When I meet our emigrants abroad, the very first question they ask is my attitude to Anastasia Volochkova. She has first place in representation of our ballet.

And Kevin Berlin with this series of work might begin to sound loud. The other thing is that someone will like his creative work, others-won’t. To tell you the truth, I do not like Picasso, Van Gogh, Malevich or Hirst, but someone think they are great. I prefer Michelangelo and Dali. Everything is very subjective in this world. Probably, I do not like Berlin’s style, but I am pleased that contemporary American artist could represent ballet in another way, which is unique and different. As a result we have naked souls, naked waist-high and below the belt.

Viktor Anatolievich Yaremenko Ballet director of the Ukraine National Opera



I am particularly interested in the project as Kevin succeeded to make the paintings beautiful and spectacular, although showing ballet backstage atmosphere. I liked the most “The Lovers” subject as it is very elegant and timely…

Ekaterina Alaeva Soloist of National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine