19 March 2012
A shot in the art for Vasily
What artist needs a paintbrush when he can use a revolver? On sale at Irina Zonabend’s new Contemporary Art gallery at 99 Mount Street, Mayfair, are works by Vasily Sad, the Ukrainian abstract artist whose idea of “mixed media” is to fire 25 or so bullets into his canvases. They come at £5,000-£7,500 a shot.
Peering through the gaping holes with raised edges made by Sad’s bullets you can imagine you are staring into outer space, says Zonabend. “Sad thinks he is firing at the Iron Curtain,” she adds, “but he is a peaceful man.”

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/duke-forced-on-defensive-over-wind-turbines-7577552.html

http://en.newstyle-mag.com/featured/vasily-sad-beauty-in-the-ordinary.html

18.02.2012
Vasily Sad: Beauty in the Ordinary
About author: Elena Petrova – Deputy Editor “New Style” magazine. el@newstyle-mag.com

Vasily Sad exibition at The Gallery, Mount Street, London
Until 28 February the beautiful classical room of The Gallery on Mount street houses works of renowned Ukranian artist Vasily Sad ( pronounced as “saahd” and meaning “the garden”). This is the first solo show in Mayfair for the artist who is well-known back home for his simple yet visually compelling work.
The exhibit is rightfully titled “Beauty in the Ordinary”as the presented body of work consists mostly of simple punched metal sheets. Sad’s signature metal work looks especially intense in the luxurious setting of the gallery.

Sad once mentioned that ‘The beauty is in simplicity’ and his abstract artworks magnificently capture the simple Beauty in the Ordinary. Sad relentlessly believes that it is only with abstraction one can ‘get through to the secrets of human existence and nature’ and he aims for his works to be simple, organic and spontaneous.
VASILY SAD is a key exponent of Ukrainian abstract art. Sad graduated from Odessa Grekov College of Arts in 1977 and joined the Odessa school of non-conformism which was active during the so-called Avant-Garde of the ‘second wave’ in the 1960s-1980s. Works by Vasily Sad are in collections in America, Canada, the UK, Italy, Russia and Ukraine. The numerous exhibitions include Phillips de Pury Contemporary Auction and MacDougall’s Auction (London), Zurich International Contemporary Art Fair (Switzerland) and Edinburgh Art Fair (Scotland).

In the UK Sad is represented by Artelia Gallery. Its director, Liliya Rogova- Tippetts, first saw Sad’s works at the exhibition in Ukraine and in her own words “got struck with the energy, that seemed to radiate through the layers of paint or holes in metal, as if it was the artist’s soul bursting out from the depth of the work”.
According to experts, Sad’s work has a good commercial potential, too: his paintings have roots in both abstract expressionist tradition and conceptual art, and have a potential to appeal to a wide audience, no matter how familiar they are with the issues from Soviet and Ukrainian history (for example, Aftermath series is a dedication to Chernobyl tragedy).

The Gallery’s director Irina Zonabend was conquered by the artist’s originality and powerful emotional edge, especially in the works related to the history of his country. She finds a certain intrigue ” in the fact that you don’t know how the work is technically made, which tools were used to punch-hole the metal and what determined Artist’s choice in using them”.
Vasily Sad: Beauty in the Ordinary
Until 28 February at  the Gallery:
10 am to 5.30pm pm Monday to Friday | 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday
99 Mount Street
Mayfair London
W1K 2TF
www.99mountstreet.com

ArteLia presents at the exclusive Mayfair venue, The Gallery, a solo exhibition of
VASILY SAD
BEAUTY IN THE ORDINARY

15-28 February 2012

Please visit the Exhibition between 15-28 February 2012
The Gallery, 99 Mount Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 2TF

10 am to 5.30pm pm Monday to Friday | 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday

Thursday night late viewing 23 February 2012 | 5.30 – 7.30 pm

ArteLia gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the Ukrainian artist Vasily Sad. The exhibition “Beauty in the Ordinary” consists of group of paintings, most of which are artist’s signature metal works. The selected retrospective aims to capture the beauty of the ordinary things that surround us every day. The exhibition offers a close look at the world of Vasily Sad revealing his preoccupations with the forms, plasticity, colour and textures of the materials he uses to create an artwork.

Finding beauty in the ordinary is not just about discovering the hidden essence but rather about the artist’s skills to extract the intensity of an object, be it a scrap of metal found on the street or a handmade carpet or canvas. In doing so, Sad creates the breathtaking artworks, which draw our attention to the beauty that usually remains unnoticed in the rush of our everyday routine.

Sad once mentioned that ‘The beauty is in simplicity’ and his abstract artworks magnificently capture the simple Beauty in the Ordinary. Sad relentlessly believes that it is only with abstraction one can ‘get through to the secrets of human existence and nature’ and he aims for his works to be simple, organic and spontaneous.

The body of the artist’s oeuvre is a broad one, dealing with the subjects of memory, emotional expression and aesthetic beauty. Sad transfers the metaphysics of his meditations through the media of the modern world, juggling bright colours and delicate brush strokes with the weight of wood, carton, canvas and metal to reflect the dualism of the human spirit – all that is beautiful, light and tender in the human experience is inextricably linked to all that is dark, destructive and violent. He has found the ideal medium to convey these intense emotions in the shape of torn and punctured metal where his works radiate beauty of the ordinary life.

“Roses – Breaking Free” juxtaposes the abstract image of red rose buds with its jagged, thorn-like metal punctures. The piece exudes energy as the buried red layer bursts almost violently from its metal-walled entrapment. The thorn like holes is perfectly embodied by the jagged texture of the metal. Sad’s Roses deeply express the necessary relationship between the flower’s painful thorns and the realisation and appreciation of its true beauty. This piece acts as a reminder of the reality of the two sides of our existence, the beautiful and, the sometimes ugly.

VASILY SAD is a key exponent of Ukrainian abstract art. Sad graduated from Odessa Grekov College of Arts in 1977 and joined the Odessa school of non-conformism which was active during the so-called Avant-Garde of the ‘second wave’ in the 1960s-1980s.
Works by Vasily Sad are in collections of the National Art Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine); the Museum of Modern Art (Kyiv, Ukraine); the Khmelnitsky Museum of Modern Ukrainian art, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Odessa, Ukraine), the Odessa Museum of Eastern and Western Art and reputably collected in America, Canada, the UK, Italy, Monaco, UAE, Russia and Ukraine. Important international exhibitions include Phillips de Pury Contemporary Auction and MacDougall’s Auction (London), Zurich International Contemporary Art Fair (Switzerland), Edinburgh Art Fair (Scotland) and Indian Art Summit (Delhi).