“The sky... It’s rather hard to find any part of nature that rivals it in majesty, variety, expressiveness and beauty. It’s always full of a most vivid array of hues and intonations of light. The colours and patterns of the sky are always different, never to be repeated.
The sky is a symbol of life and endless freedom. It brings light, making us realise just how significant everything we feel is, creating and nurturing hope. The horizons of this ocean of air are always calling out to us. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that we often fly in our dreams, and associate everything sublime, righteous and sacred with the sky.
The sky is the majestic poetry of nature, sometimes sentimental and lyrical, sometimes elegant and philosophical, sometimes calm, sometimes expressive, but always unique and markedly sensuous. In most paintings, the sky is never simply the backdrop. It is a metaphor for all that is unattainable, a unique symbol, an image full of sacred meanings.
The sky is the cradle of an artist’s imagination that at the same time represents hidden beauty and perfect harmony. One cannot help but admire the joys of the sky. When painting en plein air, in silent dialogue with the landscape, you feel a true unity with the Universe”.
Mikhas Tsybulsky, artist
“In the absolute majority of works on display, the sky is the compositional and emotional centre. Rarely choosing to depict a clear, static day, he is most attracted by the dynamics of clouds. The landscape below, the surface of water often occupy only the lower third of the image and serve as a certain “landing point” for the raging air element that lives its own life.
The artist’s landscapes convey the idea of greatness and infinity of nature overpowering the viewer: large spaces, the breath of wind and solemn silence. Focused on reflecting the changing states of nature and the sky, Mikhas Tsybulsky shapes the form with large patches of colour.
Broad, almost spontaneous impasto brushstrokes are not only a distinctive feature of the artist’s method, but also a necessity: working en plein air, one has to paint very quickly in order to record the specific, momentary state of the sky just before it changes.
Mikhas Tsybulsky’s creative method is revealed in the dialogue of two techniques – oil and gouache. His oil paintings fascinate with their depth, consistency and soft inner glow. In contrast, his works in gouache are filled with rapid dynamics and lightness: they are created instantly, in a single breath.
In the practice of exhibiting the work of Mikhas Tsybulsky, studies are fully equal to completed easel paintings. The author deliberately does not “smooth out” his plein air works, only slightly refining them in the studio. It is the quick study that most perfectly preserves sincerity and genuine dramatics of the moment that cannot be artificially recreated in the silence of the studio”.
Sviatlana Kot, head of the Department of Belarusian Art of the 20th–21st century, curator of the exhibition
