Biography

IVAN MARCHUK

People's Artist of Ukraine, laureate of T.Shevchenko National award, prize-winner of the All-Ukrainian contest «Man of the Year-2003», holder of the list «100 great people of Ukraine» compiled by the country’s mass media.

In 2006 he joined the «Golden Guild» within International Academy of Modern Art in Rome as the «maestro of the highest prestige, who has written the most beautiful page in the history of modern art». In October 2007, a reputable London newspaper The Daily Telegraph published a list of «100 geniuses now living in the world», a survey carried out among British population by the global consulting company Creators Synectics based in Great Britain. Ivan Marchuk, the only one from Ukraine, was assigned number 72 on the list.

• Ivan Marchuk was born in 1936 in the village of Moskalivka in Ternopil region.
• In 1956 he graduated from the Lviv School of Decorative Arts.
• In 1965 he graduated from the Lviv Institute of Decorative Arts, ceramic department.
• In 1979 - the first official personal exhibition in Moscow (exhibition halls on Malaya Gruzinskaya str.).
• From 1980 to 1989, without any official recognition and admission to the Union of Artists, he was arranging exhibitions in various institutions and organizations, such as, for instance, in the Art department of the National Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. At the same time he is distinguished as an informal leader of the Ukrainian art underground.
• In 1989 he immigrated to Australia, then he moved to Canada and finally to the United States.
• In 1990 - Marchuk visited Ukraine and opened his first official exhibition in Kyiv, in the Ukrainian State Art Museum of Fine Arts (now - National Art Museum of Ukraine).
• In 1997 he became the laureate of T.Shevchenko National award.
• In 2001 Marchuk settled permanently in Ukraine.
• In 2006 the International Academy of Modern Art in Rome admitted Ivan Marchuk to the «Golden Guild» and elected him an honorary member of the Scientific Council of the Academy. It was the first recognition of the Ukrainian artist by the institution of such a high level. Today there are 51 artists from all over the world who are members of «Golden Guild».
• In 2007 according to the British paper The Daily Telegraph Ivan Marchuk was called a genius of nowadays among hundreds of prominent figures of our time (72 place).
• From 1979 to 2007 Ivan Marchuk held more than 60 personal exhibitions, among them:
1991 - Ukrainian Center, Philadelphia, USA
1992 - Gallery «13», New York, USA
1993 - Gallery «SAVAH», Sydney, Australia
1999 - Gallery of the city municipality, Lille, France
• 2005 – Exhibition devoted to the 40th anniversary of the artist’s creative work, «Ukrainian House», Kyiv
• 2006 - Cultural Bridge Kyiv-Paris «Strings of Sadness and Hope». The simultaneous exhibitions dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl tragedy, «Ukrainian House» (Kyiv, Ukraine), the Cultural Center, Embassy of Ukraine in Paris and UNESCO (France)
• 2007 - Kyiv Museum of Russian Art
• 2008 - Kyiv Museum of Russian Art, «The Way Home» (exhibition of landscapes of different years).


For me, art is the life and revelation. There is no other alternative. At the same time art is drudgery. I work 365 days through a year, and can not help but do it. It is the verdict of fate, karma, doom. There is no escape from it. I dream of going to the warm beach, lying in the grass and listening to its growth, I want to watch the clouds soaring high up in the sky. I want to enjoy life, have fun, to mix up with people in a good company. I wouldn’t mind going to school to teach someone there. And then it occurs to me: but more than that I want to do something myself. Invincible belief!
Ivan Marchuk