An installation by famous Ukrainian sculptor Oleh Ataiants opened in the National Hotel in Kyiv. The composition is made of gas pipes twisted into a finger shape that is understood all over the world. The name of the installation is also telling – Fuck Gas Weapon
The artist came up with the idea for the unusual work back in 2022, at the height of Russia’s war against Ukraine, after the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was blown up. It was created in Dnipro from real gas pipes. It was then that European countries faced a dilemma – whether to continue buying gas from Russia or to refuse to cooperate with the aggressor country. Oleh Ataiants created his work as a protest against the gas blackmail of the Russian Federation.
Photo: Oleh Atayants
The pipes are painted in Ukrainian national colors – yellow on the outside and blue on the inside. According to the co-organizer of the exhibition, Daryna Shykhnenko, it was very important for the author to incorporate the Ukrainian context into her work.
– The installation is made in the colors of our flag as a symbol of Ukraine. Currently, these colors are familiar all over the world, and in this way, Oleh Ataiants wanted to emphasize our identity. Despite the fact that the sculptor has been living abroad since 2014, it is extremely important for him to maintain ties with Ukraine. So it is not surprising that this installation has been presented in Kyiv for the first time, – says Daryna.
The main “message” (literally and figuratively) that the artist put in his work is that Russia’s blackmail will not work. It is also important to convey to the people of Europe that expensive gas is a problem for them that is incomparable to the fact that people are killed in Ukraine.
Fuck Gas Weapon is a symbol of the end of the terrorist regime of the Russian dictator and the resilience of Ukraine, which courageously resists aggression.
Photo: Oleh Atayants
– Artists are very sensitive to the needs of our time and try to express them in their own language. It is understood by different generations and countries, cultural people who can feel, – says Daryna Shykhnenko.
Among other works by Ataiants presented at the exhibition is a bronze sculpture from the Shape shifters cycle. If you look at it from one side, you can see a swan, and from the other side, a squid. This is a kind of sculptor’s handwriting: there are many similar works in his oeuvre. In this way, he wants to show that all things and phenomena in the world have a flip side and are not always what they seem.
After the presentation at the National Hotel in Kyiv, the installation of gas pipes Fuck Gas Weapon will be exhibited at art fairs in the United States. Then the author plans to sell his work at an auction and donate the proceeds to the needs of Ukrainian defenders.
Photo: Oleh Atayants