The depth beyond sculpture: Lyudmyla Mysko

 Ukrainian sculptor Lyudmyla Mysko has left a remarkable impression on the contemporary art world. Approaching human figures and natural forms with an innovative perspective, Mysko masterfully blends aesthetic and conceptual depth in her sculptures. In this interview, we share with our valued readers the artist’s creative processes and her understanding of art.

 

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself?

1971 was born in Kyiv, Ukraine.

1982-1986 – education certificate, Art School, Kyiv, Ukraine.

1994-2000 – Bachelor and Master in Sculpture, National Academy of Fine Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Member Youth Society of Ukraine National Artists Union (since 1999).

Member of the Union of Ukrainian Professional Artists – Affiliated to the International

Association of Art IAA/UNESCO (since 2005).

Professional member of International Association for Monumental Sculpture Events (since

2012).

Member of the International Sculpture Symposium Alliance (since 2018).

The artist lives and works in Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine. She working with stone, wood, ice, snow,

bronze, sand. During last 20 years took part in about 150 International sculpture symposiums,

festivals, art actions, exhibitions in 30 countries. Winner of various prizes for sculpture,

photography, designer collection.

Art in collection

Public and private collections in Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Brasilia, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, India,

Israel, Iran, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia,

Syria, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK, Ukraine,

USA, Vietnam, Japan.

Park-museum of The Centre of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko, Poland.

Galkot Open Air Sculpture Museum, Nepal.

Mosan Art Museum, Boryeong, South Korea.

Tefen Industrial Park Open Museum, Israel.

Open Air International Sculpture Park Museum, Ayia Napa, Cyprus.

Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, Poland.

Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Museum of modern Art, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Museum of Ukrainian Paintings, Dnipro, Ukraine.

Museum-workshop of Ivan Kavaleridze, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Awards and prizes

2022 – Awarded Worldwide Order of the Star “Credo”, Public Organization “Grandees, Ratings and

Nominations”, Charitable Organization “Committee for Public Awards of Ukraine” together with

The Expert Council, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2022 – Awarded World Order of Cultural Diplomacy, Public Organization “Grandees, Ratings and

Nominations”, Charitable Organization “Committee for Public Awards of Ukraine” together with

The Expert Council, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2022 – Award, International Prize “Cultural Diplomacy”, Public Organization “Grandees, Ratings and

Nominations”, Charitable Organization “Committee for Public Awards of Ukraine” together with

The Expert Council, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2021 – Award  of Sculpture Exhibition to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary, Anhui Sculpture Association Public Art and Sculpture, China.                                                                                                  2018 – First Prize, Cup of Ice Sculpture, Ice hotel Bukovel, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine.

2018 – Grand-Prix 1 st International Art Biennale, Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Region, Ukraine.

2017 – Bronze Prize, International Sculpture Exhibition, Wenzhou, China.

2017 – Award, International Sculpture Exhibition, Putian, China.

2015 – Excellent Prize, International Sculpture Symposium, Ho Shi Ming, Vietnam.

2015 – Excellent Prize, International Sculpture Exhibition, Fuzhou, China.

2015 – Nominated Prize, International Sculpture Exhibition, Fuzhou, China.

2009 – Second Prize Ukrainian Art Week, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2008 – Grand-Prix Designer Collection Competition “Anti-AIDS”, Lviv, Ukraine.

2007 – Diploma of Guinness Ukrainian Records Book, V International Sand Sculpture Festival,

Kyiv, Ukraine.

2006 – Grand-Prix Sand Sculpture Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2005 – Grand-Prix 3 rd International Sand Sculpture Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine.

2005 – Grand-Prix Photography Competition “Anti-AIDS”, Lviv, Ukraine.

2004 – Grand-Prix Stone Sculpture Symposium, Zhovkva, Lviv Region, Ukraine.

1999 – Grand-Prix Sculpture Competition “Anti-AIDS”, Lviv, Ukraine.

 

How did you start your career as a sculptor? When and how did you decide to pursue art?

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, that is, since early childhood. My last name before marriage was “Malyarenko”, which means the child of an artist, so the desire for creativity is in my genes. Children’s studio, art school, sculpture faculty at the Academy of Arts in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine – these were the steps to a professional career.

What emotional or aesthetic messages do you aim to convey in your artistic works? What kind of reactions do you hope to get from the audience?

The main thing for me is not indifference, to arouse the interest of the public, what is it and how is it done? I often turn to social and philosophical topics that concern me at a certain period of my life, for example, during the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine since 2014, two sculptures called “Independence” were created in 2017, 2018, the sculpture “Black Sun of Donbass ”, 4 sculptures called “Liberation” 2023, “Solidarity” 2020, “Molecule of memory” 2023, “The rainbow is always inside the storm” 2023, etc. In my sculptures, I use simple geometric shapes as a universal language of sculpture that is understood on all continents without translation.

How do you position yourself as a female artist in sculpture and what is the impact of your female identity on your art and art practices?

Of course, my sense of the surrounding world is the sense of a woman. The world created by me in sculpture is a world through the eyes of a woman and the hands of a woman. Figuratively speaking, I weave this world of mine in stone. I address topics that concern every woman, for example, love and harmony in the family or gender equality, communication with children in the language of sculpture.

You have won many international awards. What is the impact of these awards on you and your art?

It is nice to feel that my work is understood and resonates in the hearts of people in other countries of the world. Each subsequent award is a sign that I am moving in the right direction and my professional level is growing.

What do you consider when choosing the marble you use in your sculptures? Which marble do you prefer and why?

During my 25-year career, I was fortunate to work with various marbles (Italian, Turkish, Macedonian, Indian, Egyptian, Omani, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.). I love working with a new stone. If it is a project with small details, Italian Carrara marble, or Mugla White from Turkey, or Indian Makrana Marble would be best. If it is an abstract composition with large details, then the Turkish Marmara Marble or the black Spanish Nero Marquina Marble are perfect. In general, I like solid marble patterns.

What are the biggest challenges you face when working with marble and what strategies do you use to overcome these challenges?

These are common defects of natural stone. There are caverns and hidden cracks and spots. I use special glues, putties and other chemical means to eliminate small defects. I can change the project a little to bypass the problem area, or use a natural chip in the composition, because I like the texture of the stone on a natural fracture in combination with a polished or polished surface. If the defect is serious, then I prefer to replace the block with another one.

Can you share the names and characteristics of some of your favorite projects?

• “Butterfly” 2024, marble, 225x278x200 cm, Bukha, Oman.                                                                   The sculpture is located in an extremely beautiful location, a family park on the seashore surrounded by rocky mountains, it became a wonderful addition to an incredibly beautiful natural landscape. The sculpture is designed as a photo area, it has seats on both sides, especially good photos come out at the moment of sunset.

Since the beginning of a full-scale war in my country, I have been creatively working and living together with my sculptor husband Yuriy Mysko abroad, mainly in Poland. In 2023, in cooperation with the company “Granite. Skwara” I created 3 sculptures. Two of them “Quantum Portal” and “Labyrinth of Love III” have mechanisms and rotate around their axis. The sculpture “Stairs to Heaven III” has a light source inside and is beautifully illuminated at night.

 

• “Stairs to Heaven III” 2023, sandstone, 500x70x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland. This sculpture continues my series of abstract works where I use only one simple geometric shape as a base – here it is a square. The whole structure is made of cubes. In this work, the void has the same weight as the material of the stone, that is, another invisible staircase winds up to the sky inside the sculpture.In order to grasp the view of “Stairway to Heaven”, the viewer needs to go around the sculpture several times, as they are arranged in a spiral. The structure creates a double twisted spiral and can be related to the circle and interpreted as a way of unfolding the life force, the spiral being a symbol of life. Like the circle, the spiral is associated with the image of infinity and embodies the idea of development, continuity and cosmic rhythms.

 

• “Quantum Portal”, 2023, gabbro, marble 235x145x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland. This sculpture is my artistic vision of the quantum theory of teleportation. Quantum teleportation is a process in which quantum information can be transferred from one location to another, using classical communication and creating a shared quantum entanglement between the sending and receiving locations. This is the technology of creation and transformation from the future. The sculpture resembles the shape of a quantum teleportation port or gate. I show the quantum as a single infinite wave (according to the research of scientists), and also as a symbol of the infinite movement in the development of world science. Is teleportation in time and space a dream of mankind or a reality in the near future?

 

• “Labyrinth of Love III”, 2023, marble, gabbro 250x163x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland.                                                                                        “Labyrinth of Love” abstract project. The shape resembles a gate or portal. At birth, the human soul falls into a maze of love. Throughout life, a person experiences himself and becomes the object of love of other people. Love encompasses a variety of different emotional and mental states, typically strongly and positively experienced, ranging from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure. A person moves through the labyrinth of love throughout life, feeling its various forms, surrounded by the love of others. The four elements are intertwined – these are different forms or manifestations of love (love for parents and children, love for the Motherland, love, mercy or love of neighbor). They are equal and interconnected.

 

One of the important sculptures for me was installed in the old city in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• “Harmony of Trust” 2023, by Lyudmyla Mysko, granite, 435х70х70 см, Tuwaiq International Sculpture Symposium, Er Riad, Saudi Arabia. Our trust consists of fragments of the memory of our previous experience as of bricks. The more such fragments, the higher the level of trust. And my sculpture consists of separate elements arranged on top of each other, which in general has the form of a spiral. I wanted to show a complex logical theory by means of abstract geometric sculpture. In simple words. A child from birth trusts everyone. Over time, the level of trust is built in the mind based on the experience of communicating with different people. The degree of our trust in relation to the person whom we see for the first time is largely based on our previous experience. So, based on the visual similarities between this new person and the people we know well enough to judge their honesty, our brain ascribes to the stranger the properties of these people. It turns out that the outward resemblance to a dishonest person can play a trick on you and cause you to unjustifiably mistrust. In order to comprehend the view of the “Garmony of Trust”, the viewer must go around the sculpture several times, because they are arranged in a spiral. The structure creates a double twisted spiral.

 

Note: Please share with us some personal photographs and photos of your architectural projects that you would like to include in the magazine.

List of main of my sculptures:

1. “Butterfly” 2024, marble, 225x278x200 cm, Bukha, Oman.
2. “Stairs to Heaven III” 2023, sandstone, 500x70x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland.
3. “Quantum Portal”, 2023, gabbro, marble 235x145x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland.
4. “Labyrinth of Love III”, 2023, marble, gabbro 250x163x70 cm, Granity Skwara im. Stefana Skwary, Mostowka, Poland.
5. “Liberation III” 2023, Carrara marble, granite, metal, 39,5×28,5×28,5 cm, Słopsk, Poland.
6. “Molecule of memory” 2023, granite, metal, 51x47x47 cm, Slopsk, Poland.
7. “The rainbow is always inside the storm” 2023, gabbro, limestone, 41,5х67,5х34,5 см, Slopsk, Poland.
8. “Liberation II” 2023, Macedonian marble, granite, 78x18x18 cm, Slopsk, Poland.
9. “Liberation IV” 2023, black Indian marble, 179x29x29 cm, private collection by Rama Shankar Singh chairman of ITM University, Gwalior, India.
10. “Harmony of Trust” 2023, granite, 435х70х70 см, Er Riad, Saudi Arabia.
11. “Fire”, 2022, galala marble, 350x100x100 cm, La Vista, New Administrative Capital, Egypt.
12. “Magnetic Designer VII”, 2021, galala marble, 155x160x140 cm, La Vista developments, New

administrative capital, Egypt.

13. “Solidarity”, 2020, Carrara marble, gabbro, 160x100x60 cm, Kyiv, Ukraine.
14. “Gender Equality”, 2019, limestone, 200x80x80 cm, Saint-Michel-de-Chavaignes, France.
15. “Cherry”, 2019, marble, metal, granite, 330x120x120 cm, Saint-Georges, Quebec, Canada.
16. “Independence II”, 2018, limestone, 190x75x75 cm, Baku, Azerbaijan.
17. “Labyrinth of Love I”, 2018, marble, 225x210x150 cm, Istanbul, Turkey.
18. “Stone knotting I”, 2017, marble, 295x80x80cm, Ankara, Turkey.
19. “Weaving The Canvas of The History”, 2015, marble, 320x80x80 cm, Suleymanpasha, Turkey.
20. “Magnetic Designer II”, 2015, marble, 300x120x120 cm, Fuzhou, China.