Igor Bozhko: The Odesa Leonardo of the Nonconformist Era

Igor Bozhko is a talented Ukrainian artist whose name represents an entire institution of Odesa art; a man who seems to have decided to live not one, but five or six creative lives in one. A representative of the legendary generation of the 1960s and 70s, he has traveled the path from underground "apartment exhibitions" to the status of a living classic, while maintaining an irony and inner freedom rare for an artist.

His journey began in an atmosphere of bold defiance of the system. In the 1960s and 70s, Bozhko was an active participant in the nonconformist movement of Odesa. The famous exhibition at the House of Actor, authorized by the authorities, lasted only one day: it was closed instantly due to the "grotesque" content of the works. That "forbidden fruit" was immediately snapped up by private collections.

However, Bozhko was never a "narrow specialist." While his painting "August" and other works paved the way to the Union of Artists through republican exhibitions, the author became seriously interested in literature.

In addition to paintings, Ihor Bozhko also created wooden sculptures using everyday objects (a faucet in "Aquarius," a fork in "Harvest"), which were later fully purchased by the gallery owner Anatoliy Dymchuk.

Music of Light and Strings

Bozhko's theatrical period was marked by plays performed at international festivals. The People's Artist Semen Krupnyk played his final role in Bozhko's play "A Day of Silence."

The recognition of his abstract cycle "Planets" by colleague Volodymyr Tsiupko confirms the uniqueness of his work with light. Bozhko himself admits that he would have chosen the path of a composer if he were to start life over; his music for the guitar is performed by the master Yuriy Niprokin.

Today, his works are held in the National Art Museum of Ukraine and many private collections in Ukraine, as well as in foreign collections.