Exhibition «Seventh Heaven» in the first place features the contemporary Ukrainian art, its manifestations in varied genres and forms, from interior, fabric, household item design to paintings, sculptures and items of applied art. The name «Seventh Heaven» serves the best to relay the sacral mythological nature of the display and is related with the world perception of old-time Ukrainians, their idea of the world order. Religion is the core of the culture of the Ukrainian people. It so happened that many traditional arts carry the religious spirit and symbolic meaning. Religion, in its Christian form, has become the integrator of Ukrainian society, shaped the perceptions and the world outlook of the people, influencing all sides of human life and the social structure. This aspect of the Ukrainian folk culture in its Christian dimension remains in the focus of ethnographic, folklore and art studies, and has become the element that united such varied items and genres at this exhibition.
The idiom «Seventh Heaven» is rooted in Middle Eastern religions, Babylonian and other ancient sacred knowledge. According to them, the Universe consisted of seven heavenly spheres, the uppermost of them populated by the angels. The idiom is very old, meaning extreme joy, bliss, paradise. Aristotle, the great Ancient Greek scholar and philosopher of the 4th century BC, used it in his treatise «On the Heaven», that speaks about features of the heavenly vault. He believed that the heaven consisted of seven immovable crystal spheres bearing stars and planets. This combination must have been widespread in the olden times. In particular, the seven heavens are more than once mentioned in the Quran. The Quran itself, according to the Islamic tradition, was brought by an angel exactly from the seventh heaven. A similar expression is found in the Bible (the New Testament, the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 12:2): «... caught up to the third heaven».
The purpose behind this exhibition is to unfix all established notions of traditional art and change perceptions of everyday utility items, where pieces of art, be that an icon, a jar or embroidery, after revisualization take on new significance with time. The simplest things are reconfigured and revitalized: say, a massive door turns into a painting, a rake turns into a hanger. They are pooled together, interesting and creative, producing a unique artistic space.
This multi-genre exhibition features a real constellation of renowned talented artists, designers, potters, etc., whose art combines traditions with new, modern interpretations, views and perceptions of Ukrainian craftsmen regarding the methods of incorporation of traditional ideas, likings, gains and inventions in the modern cultural context.
The exhibition displays paintings, textile, plastic pieces by Tetyana Hubina, conceptual paintings by Yuriy Yermolenko, graphic works by Yuliya Hushul, ceramic panels by Vira Tomashevska, ceramics by Volodymyr Dovhan, embroidery, textile by Nataliya Katiukha, studio pottery by Vita Khaidurova, fancy glass by Ostap Ivanyshyn, ornamentals by Olena Buhaichenko, stoving enamel by Iryna Pasternak, forged sculptures by Oleksandr Kovalchuk.
