The Sholom Aleichem Museum (a branch of the Museum of Kyiv History) presents a memorial exhibition dedicated to the renowned Kyiv artist Viktor Hukailo.
“The Ark” is an exhibition project featuring 20 graphic works by the famous Kyiv artist Viktor Hukailo, created over the past five years. The artist was drawn to unconventional visual solutions. In his work, Viktor Hukailo used a language of signs and symbols that evoke numerous associations in the viewer. A significant theme in his oeuvre is that of the shtetls. Sadly, on August 3 of this year, the celebrated Ukrainian graphic artist, illustrator, and stage designer Viktor Hukailo passed away, but his talent will live on forever through his works, artistic images, and ideas.
“The Ark. 40 Days” is a memorial exhibition dedicated to the renowned Kyivan illustrator and artist, who created artworks for 15 productions at the Kyiv State Academic Puppet Theatre and served as the chief artist for the exhibition of the Museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine” in Dnipro.
Viktor Hukailo was born in Kyiv on May 19, 1946. He graduated from the Kyiv Shevchenko Art School and the Ivan Fedorov Polytechnic Institute. Since 1993, he has served as the chief artist of the Kyiv State Academic Puppet Theatre. From 2010 to 2012, he was the chief artist of the exhibition at the Museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine” in Dnipro. Since 2016, he served as the chief artist of the exhibition “Civilian Heroism of Dnipropetrovsk Region in the Events of the ATO” at the Yavornytskyi Museum in Dnipro.
As an illustrator, Viktor Hukailo collaborated with the publishing houses Radyanska Shkola, Vyshcha Shkola, Veselka, Dovira, Dnipro, and Dukh i Litera, as well as some foreign publishers. He created illustrations for the Ukrainian magazines Maliatko and Barvinok, and the Israeli magazine Carmel. From 1993 to 2009, he worked as the stage artist for 15 productions at the Kyiv State Academic Puppet Theatre. His works are held in numerous private collections in Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic, Israel, England, and the USA, as well as in the collections of several museums. The artist was featured in many domestic and international exhibition catalogs and publications, including Artistic Images 1+1 (Lavra Gallery, 1997), 10 Years of Gallery 36 (2005), a group exhibition in Israel (2005), and the catalog of the exhibition Kyiv Collection (2015).
The Sholom Aleichem Museum is located at 5 Velyka Vasylkivska St. (“Arena City”), Kyiv.