Daria Marchenko - Artist, Conceptualist, Traveler

Daria Marchenko - Ukrainian artist, is the embodiment of a woman and an artist changed by war.  Daria's life and and her art were forever transformed after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and attacked the Eastern Ukraine, which created the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II and endangered world security.  Through her art, Daria has become a living witness.  She had to evolve into a story teller depicting the lives of her generation, their lives and their deaths. Her friends were not trained soldiers. They are regular people, a citizen's army, sacrifing their lives for their families and friends, united by the universal desire for freedom against the brutal forces of Russian aggression, led by a KGB born dictator.  The brutality and injuustice that Daria's generation has suffered, along with the bravery that they have shown, inspired Daria to create the most talked about contemporary political painting in the world - The Face of War.

The title of Daria's work, The Face of War, is identical to the well known 1941 piece by the famous surrealist painter, Salvador Dali.  But the subject, tone and message of her work is much more far reaching in its ambition.  Daria's painting has much more in common  with Picasso's most famous and most politically powerful piece, Guernica, which he painted in 1937 as a response to the careless Natzi bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.  Daria's style is all her own, but her message, like Dali and Picasso, is a reminder of the tragedies of war, particularly the innocence of civilians.  As such, it stands as a bold and enduring plea for peace in our time.  

 
Daria has uniquely captured the brutality of war without showcasing its victims.  Instead, she depicts the face of the tyrants who order unjust wars.  Still, this war's victims are not absent from her painting. It's subject, Vladimir Putin, has his face rendered in a mosaic of bullet shells gathered from the war fields of Eastern Ukraine.  Each shell is a trace of death that was sent towards Daria's people.  Some of these bullets missed.  Some maimed.  Some killed.  The presence of this nearly 8 foot painting is truly powerful.  
 
Over 4,000 publications and video reports in newspapers and news services from the around the world featured Daria's Face of War, including The Wall St. Journal, Reuters, Associatd Press,  France Press, the BBC, Sky News, USA Today, NBC News, ABC News, The Guardian, The Telegraph, the International Business Times, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, the Observer, the New York Post, the London Art News, The Star, the Voice of America, Die Welt, the Times of India, African News and many more. 
 
After watching a news broadcast, that was aired in Prague, about the Maidan and Daria's portrait of Putin, Raymond Staples, an avid art collector and the most successful American entrepreneur and investor in Central and Eastern Europe, was so moved that he reached out to Daria and offered her and Daniel Green, one of the Ukraine's most celebrated artists, patronage, visas and a plan and platform for showcasing The Face of War with the world.
 
A special exhibition of The Face of War was held in the US p in Washington D.C. at the Rayburn House and at the Capital Hill Club in 2015.  The exhibition was attended by several leading members of the US congress, senators and the former president of the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko.
 
Because this anti-war painting installation was created from bullet shells, it has an unusal capacity to change the facial expressions of its subject, depending on the change of lighting, allowing the viewer to see the full spectrum of human emotions - fear, pride, cruelty, hatred, sorrow, confusion and ultimately their fate.  Look into the soul of this giant portrait.  Look at every shell.  Try to comprehend the fact that each shell comes from a real bullet that was sent to kill a human being.
 
Currently, Daria recently completed a series of 5 painting installations entitled The Five Elements of War.  The Face of War was the first in this series.  The Five Elements of War reflects upon the main driving forces behind most of the military conflicts in the modern world.  Early glimpses of the works-in-progress show a stunning collection, each as unique as The Face of War.  Although The Face of War was banned in Russia and attempts were made to buy it and burn it by oligarchs who were cronies of Putin, this series is soon  to be unveiled before a world-wide audience in museums, universities and galleries.
 
Despite her youth, Daria Marchenko was a successful commercial artist in Kiev, before creating The Face of War.  Her earlier works are in the permanent collections of museums in the Ukraine, Germany and China.  Daria's works have been displayed in many exhibitons around the world, including Luxembourg, Bruges, Brussels, New York and Jerusalem. Daria's works were created in more than 30 countries. They are filled with sentiments of peace-keeping, are in the permanent collections in museums in Germany, China. 

СV:

27.04.2018 –  "Five Elrments of War" – Museum of Moving Image in New York. 

25.01.2018 Exhibition "Five Elements of War"  - Ukrainian Institute of America in New York (UIA)

18.08.2017 – Exhibition "Five Elements of War or the Evolution of Diсtatorship" - Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) in Chicago

 

24.04.2017 – Lecture "Five Elements of War or the Evolution of Dictatorship" - University of Washington (UW) in Seattle

15.04.2017  – Lecture "Five Elements of War or the Evolution of Dictatorship" - Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles

30.09.2015   – Exhibition  «Face of War»  was visited by Senators and Congressmen in Rayburn Foyer – Rayburn House Office Building - United States Сongressional office building / Washington

28.09.2015  –  «Face of War»  in response to Putin’s speech at United Nations showcased  in  Capitol Hill Club  / Capitol Hill Club   Washington

08. 25.2015 – Exhibition «Faceof War» in  M17 Gallery / Kiev

02.07. 2015 –  Exhibition «Unlimited сompleteness»  / Grether Gallery

02.20. 2014 –  Exhibition  «Sic Itur Ad Astra» - «This is the way to the stars». Some of the works submitted to the Mission of Ukraine to the UnitedNations , as well as to demonstrate the permanent exhibition of «Ukrainian National Home»/ New York

2013/14 – A series of landscapes and painting «Tyrant» were exhibited at the Ukrainian Cultural Centres of Belgium  In the framework of the project "Alternative. Ukraine - Reality and Future " / Grether Gallery

16.02. 2014«Cultural Center of the Kingdom of Belgium»  in Luxembourg

18.11.2013«Cultural Center of the Kingdom of Belgium»   in Bruges

15.11.2013 – «The Ministry of Foreign Affars of Flanders»   in Brussels

08.11.2014 – Co-organizer of charity «Asian Culture and Food Festival», which was prepared in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam and Korea.  Art exhibition «Аsia» was presented

23.10.2014 –  Exhibition «Freedom» / Museum «Duhovnі Skarby»

22.10.2014 –  The organizer of a Charity Exhibition «Heart of  the Peace» . Picture «Heart of the Peace»  and others were presented. 

09.25.2014 –  Picture «Confucius»  became a part of Museum of Xi Jinping  (General Secretary of the Communist Party of China) / Beijing

09.09.2014 – «Fate of the Earth» is presented in the «Museum of Russian Art» (Kiev)  

06.2014 – Picture  «Mark traffic signalization» became a part of permanent exhibition of  MAUERMUSEUM - MUSEUM HAUS AM CHECKPOINT CHARLIE  / Berlin

15.05.2014 –  The founder and member of the Art Exhibition «Maidan»  / Museum «Duhovnі Skarby»

03.07.2014 –   Exhibition «World Genesis»  accompanied by musical project of  Nazgul Shukaeva  and «Asian Tengri» / «Sugar Gallery» Kiev   

16.12.2013/01.01.2014 –  Peacemaking art project «Heart of the Peace»  / Area of ​​the Nativity, Bethlehem, Palestine  

10.09.2013 –  Picture «Nail» was shown during  International  Conference - Exhibition «Diversity and tolerance in Europe» / Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Kiev

1.06.2013/ 14.06.2013 Exhibition «Windows», within the literary performances of Sergey Bakumenko and Daria Marchenko  / «Mystetskyi Arsenal» Kiev  

05.2013 –  International  Festival «VIZII». The winner of the Photo contest «City of the Future» / Museum «Kiev Fortress» Kiev

05.04.2012 –  «Arbor Vita -Tree of Life»  / Exhibition in «Znobi - Golimbievskih Museum» Kiev)

02.2011 – «Portrait – icon»  was presented, as a new kind of portraiture /«Pinchuk Art Centre» Kiev

2009/10 – Created a project, decorating  5 cities in Ukraine by scale 3D pictures (70 -120 m. sq.) / Donetsk, Vinnitsa, Kherson, Cherkassy, Kiev

02.05.2009 –  Exhibition «Walls», collected from different  states of India /«Tasveer Gallery» Bangalore, India  + Art-space «Start», Kiev

2008 – Play «Georgia» was shown in the theater «Black Square».

This work was written after war, which has been experienced in Georgia.

 

© Dasha Marchenko, 2024