Putin’s War
Waldek Dynerman

May 26 – June 24, 2023

Russia invaded Ukraine by land, sea and air on Feb. 24, 2022, the largest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called its actions “a special military operation,” while Ukraine and the West call the attack a malicious land grab.

Against the backdrop of the successive incursions mounted by Russian forces into Ukrainian state territory since 2014, the works presented in the exhibition – all of which were created within the past fifteen months – provide an evocative, emotional reflection of the drastically transformed life and turbulent spiritual landscape of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

About the Artist:

 

Born in Warsaw six years after WWII ended, Waldek Dynerman grew up with remnants of war everywhere. Bombed and burnout buildings were his playground and crude, wooden guns his toys. His Jewish father survived the Holocaust, and his Polish mother could never shake the memories of the war. Dynerman grew up absorbing the traumatic stories of his parents and developing great empathy for victims of war; conflicts has become one of the stalwarts of Waldek’s work. He says “When making art, these thoughts and feeling are always present, and may be expressed through brutal treatment of materials, fragmentation of the human form, or obfuscation of meaning.” Putin’s unprovoked aggression and the brutality of the Ukrainian war has triggered flashbacks to the many WWII stories he heard as a child. 


Daily, Dynerman shifts through images of the Ukrainian war available from news media and puts them together in ways that speak to him. He is very direct in his working method, working fast and driven mostly by intuition. He feels that he can’t ignore what is happening in the Ukraine  and this is his way to express outrage and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.