'Too Bright'
'But one can hear offensive words just because of having too bright clothes or my hair dyed..' Thus said Oleksandr Balbyshev, a Ukrainian artist b.1985, openly gay and prevented from marrying his partner. This distresses me, one half of my family being Ukrainian and presently suffering the assaults of the Russian invasion. But, for all their courage and resilience, Ukrainians harbour a residue of corruption and conservative attitudes to morality and sexuality.
Balbyshev counters the hostility by his bold, vividly coloured paintings of men, vigorous, robust and beautiful. There are clear references to Picasso in his 'cubist' pictures, and van Gogh in some of the flowing backgrounds and the brushstrokes.
I thank xfabricex for initially alerting me to this artist.
