On 26 October, at 5 p.m. the exhibition hall of the Museum of Odesa Modern Art (5 Leontovycha St.) will host a vernissage of the exhibition dedicated to the 80th birthday of Vladimir Strelnikov “The Stone Rejected by the Builders” with the artist’s participation.

One of the founders and an active participant of the nonconformist movement in Odesa, Volodymyr Strelnikov has been living and working in Munich, Germany, since 1979. The artist emigrated under pressure from the Soviet secret services, which persecuted him, among other things, for organising the legendary “apartment” exhibitions.

“What was so special about this stone that the builders of communism drove it out of their borders? Probably, its internal structure did not bend to this false system,” said his long-time friend and colleague Vladimir Naumets in an essay written at the request of the museum. The essay so accurately reflected the artist’s personality and work that its title became the title of the exhibition, and numerous quotes are placed on the walls of the exhibition.

Another significant date in 2019, which is inextricably linked to Strelnikov’s work, is the 40th anniversary of the publication of the first catalogue dedicated to contemporary art in Ukraine. It is absolutely impossible to imagine a publication of this kind in the USSR – the catalogue “Contemporary Art from Ukraine” was published in Munich, bypassing Soviet censorship.

One of the main initiators of this publication was Volodymyr Strelnikov, with a foreword written by Myroslava Mudrak. The catalogue was published in three languages – French, English, and Ukrainian – in one edition, in a relatively small print run. Today, the original edition is a bibliographical rarity. One of the copies is kept in the collection of the MoOMA and will be presented in the exhibition.

The exhibition uses exhibits from the MoOMA’s collections, as well as works provided by friends and regular partners of the museum: the Vernyk family, collectors Yevhen Holubovsky, Yevhen Demenko, Anatolii Dymchuk, the Kostin family, Viktor Maryniuk, and Vitalii Oplachko.