Andrew Chyzhov

Andrew Chyzhov was born in 1995 in Sevastopol, he has been living and working in Lviv since 2013. In 2019 he received a master’s degree from the Department of Art Glass of the Lviv National Academy of Arts. Andrew Chyzhov was awarded more than 90 awards for creative activity, including twice (2009, 2011) presidential scholarship for creative contribution to the development of culture in Sevastopol. Awarded the regional prize named after Viacheslav Chornovil (Lviv, 2018). Active participant in International (Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Turkey, the USA, Canada), Ukrainian and regional exhibitions, symposiums, and plein-air events. Member of the PO «Art module». Andrew’s works are stored in the collections of the Museum of Glass in Lviv, Ukraine; Ningbo Zhejiang Greenwave Glass Museum, China; Rusi Karabiberov Gallery, Bulgaria, Die Hochschulbibliothek, Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, Germany; funds of the Lviv National Academy of Arts, in private collections of Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Estonia, Israel, Turkey, the USA, Canada.

Andrew Chyzhov was born and raised in Sevastopol and after the occupation of Crimea, the “home question” became difficult and painful for him. These feelings are sublimated into a multi-year cycle of paintings, the leitmotif of which is always an image of houses. The artist dedicates a new series of paintings to all those Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes and look for shelter in other places. The house becomes a symbol of peaceful life, gratitude for help and hope.

Andrew says: «With the beginning of a full-scale war, millions of Ukrainians faced the “lost home feeling”. First of all, it is people whose homes were damaged by Russian aggression. There are also the rest of the Ukrainians who are forced to live in conditions of constant risk of enemy shelling. They have lost their sense of security and live in constant stress. “Home” is not just a roof over your head and brick walls. Home is a family, a memory of childhood and special moments from life, it is a unique taste of water and an exceptional aroma of air. The feeling of sadness for a native home of people who are forced to look for refuge in safer regions of Ukraine or abroad, is, undoubtedly, understandable to me.

Paintings, of course, can`t give the viewer the desired security, but they are certainly capable of waking up warm memories, encouraging dreams, awakening hope, and diving them into a state of peace and comfort, in the atmosphere of a free and happy life.