Curatorial notes
Davyd Chychkan's drawing presents a statue of a young boy, a halo faintly visible above his head, standing atop a pedestal defaced with graffiti. The halo, an ancient symbol of divinity, contrasts sharply with the destructive slogans spray-painted on the base. This juxtaposition evokes a recurring motif throughout history: the desecration of the sacred. We might recall the Reformation's iconoclasm or the French Revolution's attacks on religious symbols. Similarly, this image shows the tension between veneration and iconoclasm, a cycle of destruction and creation that reflects a deeper psychological struggle with authority and belief. The defacement suggests not only a rejection of the statue's symbolic meaning but also a primal urge to dismantle established narratives. This cyclical progression, deeply embedded in our collective memory, resurfaces, evolves, and takes on new meanings in differing historical contexts.
