Nikolai Prokopenko is a worthy follower of a well-known Greek School of Artcome odessa, and not only for influencing many generations to come, but for reflecting with sensuality, lyricism and emotion la festive culture of Ukraine.
Some foreign art critics call it Picasso Ukrainian, while others reveal common ground with Gauguin and Rubens.
He was born in 1945 and was primarily creatively influenced by the 1960s growing up, a time when the art world was also undergoing a multitude of powerful changes.
On the one hand, the pop art was embracing mass media culture through the works of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann.
Nikolai Prokopenko. Source: Artive
From the images of popular culture and mass consumerism, the artists pop they rejected the high art authority and created an avant-garde movement, while simultaneously appearing minimalism rejected any form of emotional expression and focused on the theoretical aspect of art, aspiring to pure visual responses.
Historically set in the context of the Cold War, the 1960s symbolize a highly influential era that generated a significant number of ruptures and challenged the order of things. On Europa, the Iron Curtain and the wall of Berlin would permanently mark people and beliefs, while in USA, problems such as the missile crisis in Cuba and the war of Vietnam they would forever influence generations to come, from education to gender issues and ideologies.
It is in this framework that Nikolay's art occurs as a redefinition of social standards in Western society, with revolutionary philosophies and movements that emerged in a cradle of innovation.
Honesty and emptiness of emotions being key concepts in the influential movement, which was also represented by artists such as Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Agnes Martin, among others. Bored with the gestural elements of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist artists focused on producing artwork that primarily brought together clean, polished lines and geometric elements.
Delving into some of the concepts inherent in abstract expressionism, artists such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Helen Frankenthaler, and Prokopenko himself practiced color field painting, strongly related to minimalism, with an essentially rules-based approach, devoid of any expressive features, further marking the first flowering of Conceptualism was significantly influenced by the simplicity of Minimalism.
However, the legacy of the Ukrainian artist went further by denying all predefined conceptions inherent in art, similar to what artists pop they were trying to achieve, elevating popular culture to the status of an elevated art.
Thanks to their struggle, various schools of philosophy profoundly influenced creative themes strongly seduced by the ideologies of existentialism, which achieved worldwide success through their depiction of the human form and the lament often associated with the human condition.
Currently, while residing in Odessa, the place that saw him graduate as a painter, his works continue to be presented in more than 70 museums and galleries in United States y Europa, as well as private collections of Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Yugoslavia, France, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Greece, Poland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Australia, Holland, Belgium, Italy, England, Switzerland and Norway.
Today he works as a teacher, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, member of the National Union of Theatrical Artists of Ukraine, and member of the Assembly of the Nobility of the South of Ukraine. throughout his very wide career He has been the winner of international and regional exhibitions, biennials and international triennials.