Maryan Besaga

SILVER QUADRANGLE

Taking part in the Silver Quadrangle International Painting Triennial of the Carpathian Region in 2006 was an important step for me into a wider international exhibition setting.

I was invited by Professor Orest Mykhailovych Holubets, the curator for the Ukrainian participants, following my solo exhibitions at the Herdan Gallery in Lviv, where I had presented works from the Insomnia series. The triennial thus became a continuation of that period of exploration in my painting, now within an international context.

It mattered to me to exhibit alongside artists from other countries of the Carpathian region and to see my paintings not only as part of my personal creative process, but also as one contribution to a much broader dialogue in contemporary art.

Silver Quadrangle brought together different artistic communities, generations, and individual approaches. The international triennial format made it possible to compare developments in painting across countries: to recognise shared tendencies while also seeing differences shaped by local art schools and cultural experience.

As a young artist, being invited to represent the Ukrainian participants was especially meaningful to me. After a period of solo exhibitions, it was a different kind of professional experience: participating in an international project where my work formed part of a presentation of contemporary Ukrainian painting.

Today, I see this participation as an important point in my early artistic career: a step from developing my own visual language and showing it in solo exhibitions to presenting it within an international art community.