About
Pavlo Kerestey is a Ukrainian born German artist and painter, who lives and works in Reading, England and Munich, Germany. His work has been shown in exhibitions and collections across the world.
"Imagine kidsand cameras showing up in a forest at night or in a cave, the dreamlike imagesof figures glowing in a toxic natural landscape, nature becoming an extensionof the urban. Pavlo Kerestey’s painting excude a sickly energy.
Burning stars, falling asteroids, bloody reflections, fireballs, castings spells onto a fiery show. In spite of the catastrophic intonations, these paintings vibrate by colossal power engineering. They are expressive in the incandescent to the temperature of a starry nucleus, maximally raised colour sounding. And they are romantic – in the way you can’t be killed - naive expectation of the changes to the best. And although the author comes running to the language of allegories, in this case, they are already too crystal-transparent." (Victoria Burlaka)
Born in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, Pavlo Kerestey emerged from the Paris Commune in Kiev and represented the Ukrainian New Wave as a prolific painter. Based in Reading and Munich he is now working multidisciplinary in painting, video and performance often in collaboration with Susanne Clausen, under the name of Szuper Gallery.
Szuper Gallery as a tool to develop formal vocabularies that extend and define the concept ofgallery as institutional critique, their multi-media approach spans video, performance, installation and paintings and responds to the art world and global contexts, grappling with changing definitions of the social, addresses the anxieties embedded in capitalist fantasies. Previous exhibitions and performances include GRAD London, ICA London, Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Thun, The MacKenzie Art Gallery, Canada, Curtain Razors, Regina, Kunstverein Bregenz, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Western Front Vancouver, Shedhalle Zurich, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Para/Site Art Space, HongKong, Lenbachhaus Museum, Munich, Kunsthalle Vienna and Kunstverein Munich.
Represented by Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv, Miami
Works in collections
- Fondazione Imago Mundi Collection, Turin, IT
- National Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
- National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
- State Art Museum N. Onac'koho, Sumy, Ukraine
- Zenko Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
- M.A.R.C. collection, Sweeden
- Fountaihead Art, Miami
- Igor Voronov Art Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
- Grynyov Collection, Kharkiv, Ukraine
- Stedley Art Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
- State Museum of Art, Khmelnytsk, Ukraine
- State Museum of Art, Sumy, Ukraine
- Contemporary Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine
- private collections, Germany, Denmark, USA, UK, Ukraine...
Group Exhibitions and Projects
2024
"Szilvasi Circles", group exhibition, National Culture House with Contemporary art Museum, Kyiv, UA
An Exhibition of Ukrainian media Art from the 1990s, Sculpturen Museum, Marl, DE
Sentience, curated by Lilia Kudelia, Voloshyn Gallery, Miami, USA
"The monumental depictions of nettles by Pavlo Kerestey paintings appeal to the brain’s alert system. What may be understood as a trigger or threat at first sight can be easily tamed through the careful analysis of the mechanisms of nervous system response and the untangling of mythology. The insight of an animal’s growl and the intelligence of the plant’s stinging hair redirect attention to the idea of resources being guarded. Indeed, we should think about the value of a growl in canine communication as prevention from conflict escalation. Similarly, the needles of the stinging nettle that painfully inject histamines under human’s skin do so only at the moment of contact. More than anything, the depiction of this charismatic plant in Kerestey’s paintings reminds the viewer of inspiring stories about trickster characters in Eastern and Western mythology - saints, ascetics and fairy-tale heroes (like the 12 wild swans) - who survived by taming the dangerous plant. Much like writer Aaron Hill describes it: “Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains. Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains…" Lilia Kudelia
Protagonists. Paintings / Paris Commune, «Протагоністи. Живописний заповідник / Паризька комуна» National Culture House, Kyiv, UA
Optical Prostheses, part of Danylo Halkin exhibition at the Maison de la Culture Amiens, FR
"Echoing gesture of preservation carried out by Danylo Halkin, the video work Cleaning FMK (2008) by Pavlo Kerestey shows this artist, born in Ukraine in 1962 and involved during the socialist era in the creation of stained glass windows, taking care of a monumental ensemble of stained glass windows located at the plywood furniture factory in Uzhhorod. The camera is facing the work of which we only see part and where we can distinguish a series of words translating socialist values: "peace", "work", "liberty", "equality", "fraternity". The artist climbs the ladder and begins to slowly clean the glass surface and the metal structure. Although many artists in socialist Ukraine were involved in the production of ideological works, the video shifts the focus from the grand narratives of the past to the destiny and finesse of an object and destiny of an artist in particular. Hence, after having lived outside Ukraine, Kerestey returns there and decides to realize and document a micro gesture of care towards an object, carrying the memory of the past and whose disappearance would lead to erosion individual and collective memories."
2023
"Українська правда" в партнерстві з Voloshyn Gallery, благодійний аукціон робіт сучасних українських митців і мисткинь. Kyiv, UA
Milvus Research Center (MARC). Joint residency with Yaroslav Futymskyi. The residency is part of the Kindling project organised by Alex Fisher together with MARC, Baltic Art Center, Sorry No Rooms Available, and soma.majsternja, with the support of Swedish Institute.
Z.K.M. Karlsruhe, DE , Antiwarcoalition.art, 15 video works by artists and 24 slogans written by artists on the issue of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The main aim of this action through slogans is to provoke emotional reactions and contribute to dissatisfaction and frustration with Russian aggression and the inertia and indecision of Western politics, but also to express our support for the Ukrainian people. The selection of the artworks from the antiwarcoalition.art platform aims at reminding about the ongoing violence, occupation and violation of human rights just in the “remote neighbourhood”. The works united in the screening attempt to stress on the fact that each of us (all around the world) in one way or another is affected by this war — physically, economically, psychologically. This is a shared tragedy as well as the shared responsibility that enables genocide in the 21st century. Bergamot (BY), Bouillon Group (GE), Anna Chkolnikova (BY), Rezzan Gümgüm (TR), Yurii Ivantsyk (UA), Zhanna Kadyrova (UA),Alevtina Kakhidze (UA),Maksym Khodak (UA), Toni Meštrović (HR), Vlada Ralko (UA), Red Forest (DE), Anna Scherbyna (UA), Olia Sosnovskaya & a.z.h. (BY), Nastia Teor (UA), Clemens von Wedemeyer (DE), Oksana Chepelyk (UA), Katarzyna Wojtczak (PL), Igor Sevcuk (BA/NL), Group Bouillon (GE), Johan Widén (SE) , Lena Davidovich (BY), Zhanna Gladko (BY), Bedia Güven (TR) , Myriam Thyes (DE), Daria Maiier (UA) and äsc3ea (UA), Nadya Sayapina (BY), Alisa Sizykh (UA), Helmut Schweizer (DE), Pavlo Kerestey (DE), Andrei Dureika (BY), AnimaeNoctis (IT), Lesia Pcholka (BY), Antonina Stebur (BY), Aleksander Komarov (BY/DE), Maxim Tyminko (BY/DE), Nikita Kadan (UA), Sergey Shabohin (BY)
Anniversary of Caring, Ukrainian House, Kyiv, Ukraine
RECORDS OF RESISTANCE, UNTERHAUS, Oberhausen, DE
aritistsforukraine.org
LES FACETTES DE LA LIBERTÉ, from the Collection of Borys and Tetiana Hrynyov, Centre Culturel d'Ukraine en France, Paris
2022
Fountainhead Arts Residency, Miami, US
UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, KunstZeugHaus, Switzerland
UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, Art & History Museum, Brussels, BE
antiwarcoalition.art, online platform
𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 / КОАЛІЦІЯ / 𝐊𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐣𝐚 / КААЛІЦЫЯ, DOMIE, POZNAN PL
SHE ASKED I FOLLOWED. HER NAME IS AFTER. Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, USA
Ukraine Relief Fundraiser #standwithukraine, Fredric Snitzer Gallery together with Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv, Miami, USA
Ukraine: Short Stories Contemporary artists from Ukraine, Museo nazionalle delle arti del XXI secolo, curated by Solomia Savchuk in collaboration with Fondazione Imago Mundi, Rome, IT
Artists For Ukraine, 571 Oxford Road Gallery, Reading, UK
Unfolding Landscapes: Landscapes and Poetics in Ukrainian Art, Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad, Silkeborg, Denmark
UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, KunstZeugHaus, Switzerland
aritistsforukraine.org
UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, Art & History Museum, Brussels, BE
2021-2022
on waiting … for their words to leave our mouth, together with Szuper Gallery, Curated by Mirjam Bayerdörfer, Museum Strauhof Zürich, CH
2021
Contemporary Art Collection, National Art Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
Time to Collect, Museum of Modern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
2020
Strange Time, Online Exhibition
Radio Vaduz, Radio-Activity, Lenbachhaus Museum, Munich
Histories, 1990 -, National Museum Kyiv Gallery, Kyiv, from the Grynyov Collection, Kharkiv
2019
Ukrainian National Pavilion, Venice (catalogue)
Failing to Raise the Fallen Flag, The Shukhliada exposition environment, Kyiv (catalogue)
2018
Permanent Revolution. Ukrainian Art Today, Ludwig Museum, Budapest (catalogue)
Art Work, State Art Gallery, Wroclaw (catalogue)
Temporary Autonomous Zone, Parcom, Rechovyj Dokaz Gallery, Kyiv, from Grynyov Art Found Collection
2017
A Story about Certain Histories, Labirynt Gallery, Lublin
FLASHBACK. Ukrainian media art of the 1990s , Mystecjkyj Arsenal, Kyiv (catalogue)
2016
Artist's Work, Mystecjkyj, Arsenal, Kyiv
Liquid Trust, G.R.A.D. Gallery, London
Liquid Trust performance, Instititute of Contemporary Arts, London
2015
SZUPERNOVA, 32Vozodvishenka Arts House, Kyiv, (catalogue)
UKRAINIAN ART NOW: SPACES OF IDENTITY, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
2014
Unsettling the Setting, Gasthaus zum Bären, Zürich
Premonition - Ukrainian Art Now, Saatchi Gallery, London (catalogue)
LIQUID TRUST Video with live music performance, Western Front, Vancouver
- Szuper Gallery and Curtain Razors with Michele Sereda, Ben Brown and China Cloud Ensemble and Voice Over Mind Choir. Book launch and artist talk.
BALLET Book Launch, Screening and and Talk, Instititute of Contemporary Arts, London
- Ballet features Szuper Gallery's recent performance and installation projects at the Kunstmuseum Thun, MacKenzie Art Gallery Regina, Perm Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading as well as Szuper Gallery‘s collaboration with Michele Sereda and Curtain Razors. It contains video and installation stills, performance scripts, a series of paintings by Pavlo Kerestey and essays by Timothy Long, Dorothee Richter and Lars Gertenbach and Susanne Clausen. Edited by Susanne Clausen and designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio.
I AM A DROP IN THE OCEAN - ART OF THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION, Küntlerhaus, Vienna
2013
Terrain Orientation, Ukrainian National Museum, Kyiv
2012
New Social Sculpture, Kunstmuseum, Thun
New Ukrainian Figurative, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv
- Curated by Olexander Soloviov, ART KYIV Contemporary
Mith "Ukrainian Baroque", National Art Museum, Kyiv
2011
INDEPENDENT, Mystecjkyj Arsenal, Kyiv
BALLET, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina
2010
POINT OF ADDRESS, OUTPOST Gallery, Norwich
ЯКЩО/ЕСЛИ/IF, Ukrainian Art in Transition, Histories, Ukrainian paintings from the collection of Marat Guelman, Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm
2009
Ukranian New Wave, National Art Museum, Kyiv
2004
Farewell Arms, Arsenal, Kyiv
2003
First collection, Ukrainian Contemporary Art, Ukrainian Artists' Union Gallery, Kyiv, (catalogue)
2002
Abstraction in Russian Art, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, (catalogue)
2001
Art against Geography. The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, (catalogue)
2000
Art Against Geography, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, (cataloque)
1993
Post Anaesthesia, Grassi Museum, Dresden, (catalogue)
1992
Dialogue with Kiev, Villa Stuck, Munich
Still, Ukrainian Artists' Union Gallery, Kyiv
1991
Art Expo, International Art Fair, Budapest, (catalogue)
Ukrainian MalARTstvo, Kiev, Odense, Copenhagen, (catalogue)
Art Myth. 2nd Moscow International Art Fair, Manege, Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, (catalogue)
1990
7+7, Joint Venture, Odense and Kyiv, Denmark and Ukraine, (catalogue)
Babilon, Marat Guelman Collection, Moscow
Art Myth, 1st Moscow International Art Fair, Central House of Artists, Moscow , (catalogue)
Young Art from Ukraine, House of Soviet Science and Culture, Budapest
1989
Republican Exhibition of Young Artist, House of Artist, Kyiv
Youth of the Country, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow
Sedniv 89, Central Exhibition Hall, Kyiv
1988
1st Soviet-American Exhibition, Soviart, Kyiv, (catalogue)
Exhibition of Young Artists of the socialist countries, Central Exhibition Hall, Manege, Moscow
Exhibition of works of young artists, Central Exhibition Hall, Manege, Moscow
1st All Union Painting Exhibition-Competition, Central House of Artists, Moscow
All Ukrainian Painting Exhibition-Competition, Central House of Artists, Kyiv,
Sedniv 88, Central Exhibition Hall, Kyiv
1987
Youth of the Country, Central Exhibition Hall, Kyiv
SOLO SHOWS AND PROJECTS
2018
Ilko Gallery, Uzhhorod
2015
Szupernova, Vozdvyzhenka Arts House, Kyiv, (Catalogue)
2012
Ballet Granite, Slow Cooling Rocks, PERMM, Contemporary Art Museum of Perm, Russia
Neue soziale Skulpturen, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH
Inter/act1 /Szuper Gallery, Kunstmuseum Thun, CH
2011
Performance of Ballet The MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
2010
BALLET, Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, UK
2008
The Extras, A Staged Performance for Canadian Prairie, Regina, Canada
2007
Work/Arbeit/Rabota, Artists Studio, London
2007
Szuper Gallery, Les Complices, Zurich
2006
The Extras, Szuper Gallery, Kunsthalle Helsinki
2005
Nightshifts, Western Front, Vancouver
2005
The Extras, Live Art Biennial, Vancouver
2005
Rehearsing the Extras, Performance, Forum Box, Helsinki
2004
homeland security - something always follows something else, Para/Site Art space, Hong Kong
2002
gallery fiction, KünstlerHaus, Bremen
QUIVID, Technisches Rathaus München, Munich
2001-05
LIFTARCHIV, KVR, München, www.liftarchiv.de
2001
Circus artists under the big top: clueless - and other business strategies, Performance, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
2001
mobile parasitic architecture, Galerie der Künstler, Munich
Szuper Gallery, Künstlerhaus, Bremen
2000
Venice, Installation, openings days the Tate Modern, South London Gallery, London
1999
Daytrading is the New Rock ‘n Roll, ICA, London
Creativity versus Commerce, Audio-Performance, ICA, London
1998
30 Underwood Street Gallery, London
Galerie Brighi presente Szuper Gallery, Galerie Szuper, Paris
Contemporary Art, Szuper Gallery, München
1998
Szuper, Guelman Gallery, Moscow
Police, Galerie 03 Würzburg, Pudelclub Hamburg and Shedhalle Zurich
1997
Schwerelose Radikale, Blank Gallery, Kiev
1996
Clausen, Hilt, Kerestej zeigen Larry Clark, Galerie Szuper, Munich
1995
Radikaler Chic, Galerie Szuper, München
1995
Schwerelose Radikale, Galerie Szuper, Munich
"Swerelose Radikale", Blank Gallery , Kiev
1991
Guelman Gallery, Moscow
Me Me Me, Pioneer Center, Ungvar, Uzhgorod, UA
Jean Claude David Galerie, Grenoble