UKRAINIAN. Lives and works in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.
Evacuated from Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Region, temporarily occupied by the Russians.
MAXIM KILDEROV
B.1993
Transforming enemy weapons of violence into works of art
HIS ART BECAME Relics of a history still unfolding
He went to sleep in Ukraine, and woke up in a town with Russian Flags. His work is an inspiring example of art as a form of protest and a medium for communicating the importance of freedom and independence.
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After his city was occupied by the Russian army and unable to buy art materials, Kilderov famously used an abandoned enemy’s tank as a canvas, declaring it an art object, an image that traveled around the world, shared by the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, as an act of defiance against violence.
The Watermelon Colors used in some of his canvases and sculptures pay tribute to his native farming region of Kherson, a farming city near the Black sea known for its juicy watermelons
President Zelensky recently declared the watermelon a national symbol of victory.
Incessant repetition and filled with hidden meanings and symbolisms – a style he calls neo ornamentalism
By using art to bring attention to the realities of the war, Maxim Kilderov is helping to ensure that the struggles of the Ukrainian people are not forgotten, but as an artists living in an occupied city
he is creating as a reason to exist, to live, and survive.
