Monumentalism as an Essential Feature of V. Hegamyan's Work

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to investigate monumentalism in V. Hegamyan’s artistic works as a characteristic feature of the artist's creative manner. The research methodology combines a set of such methods as analytical, semiotic, art history, biographical, which in the end made it possible to achieve objective research results. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the systematisation and generalisation of the artist V. Hegamyan’s work, in particular, the disclosure of the essential features of monumentalism as a defining feature of the majority of his works. Conclusions. The name of the Odesa artist V. Hegamyan, who was the founder of the graphic faculty of the Odesa pedagogical institute, is little known to the general public of researchers of Ukrainian fine art. It has been found that the peak of the artist's creative search and revelation falls in the 1960s and 1970s, when V. Hegamyan painted numerous works, combining elements of monumental style and traditions with the colour energy of modern painting, moving away from socialist realist (academic) painting and creating unrealistic images. The monumentality of his works was manifested in the fact that he experimented a lot and fruitfully with the form, which was always dynamic. Accordingly, with all the conventionality of the figures, V. Hegamyan achieved real similarity, verisimilitude and expressiveness, creating a semantic multi-layeredness and endowing them with symbolism and ambiguity. He constantly worked on improving the technique and created his own artistic style in art, which consisted of a combination of graphic, pictorial and monumental techniques. The deepest level is archetypal symbolism, which transcends the boundaries of cultural regions and eras. In this aspect, V. Hegamyan consistently avoids straight-line allegoricality: symbolic subtexts naturally emerge from the subjects of the paintings and the means of expression chosen by the artist. This is what makes his works multifaceted: additional meanings are superimposed on specific images. The peak of the artist's creative activity during the Soviet period coincides with the emergence and development of such an artistic phenomenon as nonconformism, to which V. Hegamyan, although he did not belong, became a symbolic figure for many artists of that time.

Keywords: Velery Hegamyan, monumentalism, works of art, Odesa period of creativity, nonconformism, drawing, symbols, symbolism, artistic composition.