In conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) celebrates with a new exhibition. Reality Check: Directions in Contemporary Art Since Ukrainian Independence is on view August 26-November 27, 2016.

The exhibition presents the work of eight contemporary artists affected by the country’s 1991 independence. Reality Check examines the strictures imposed during the Soviet Union with installations, sculptures, and paintings by artists working in the United States, Canada, and Ukraine. For Ukrainian professional artists, the collapse of the Soviet Union created an opportunity to learn and engage with current artistic developments occurring in the west, as well as delve into those of the past from which they had been excluded.

The exhibition is curated by Adrienne Kochm, one of North America’s foremost scholars of contemporary art of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, and includes artists: Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, Anna Bogatin, Yhelena & Michael Hall, Roman Hrab, Natalka Husar, Yulia Pinkusevich, and Valya. 

uima-chicago.org

Top image: Natalka Husar, Why They Behave Like Russians, 2005, Oil on book cover, 8.5 x 12 in.