Maryan Besaga

PAINTING DIALOGUES

2008–2016 · Ukraine — Poland — Lithuania — Slovakia — Italy
International Painting Plein Airs, Exhibitions and Academic Projects

Painting Dialogues is a series of international plein air, exhibition, and educational art projects that I organized, co-organized, and curated between 2008 and 2016. Developing in parallel with my graphic art projects, they became a distinct area of international cooperation between the Lviv National Academy of Arts and art institutions in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Italy.

At the heart of these projects was the painting plein air as a space for creative and academic dialogue. Working directly within different cultural and landscape environments was combined with the exchange of experience between students and professors from various European art schools, while the results of the plein airs were subsequently presented through exhibitions.

An important part of this activity was the international programme Spirit. Image. Sign, developed in partnership with art institutions in Toruń, Vilnius, and other European cities. Plein airs took place in Vilnius, Toruń, Lviv, and other locations, creating a long-term network of academic and artistic exchange.

In 2012, the 10th International Student Painting Plein Air “Lviv. Spirit. Image. Sign” was organized in Lviv, bringing together 20 students and professors from Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Slovakia.

The geography of the projects gradually expanded to include Florence, Vilnius, Toruń, Iława, Krzyżowa, Zakopane, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz, Lviv, and the Ukrainian Carpathians. In 2014, a major exhibition at the Museum of Ideas in Lviv presented works by 40 students who had participated in four plein airs, three of which took place outside Ukraine.

The final stage of this period was the 2016 painting plein air in the Ukrainian Carpathians, which brought together LNAA students from different fields — painting and arts management. In this context, the plein air evolved from a practice of working directly from nature into a broader model of interaction between artistic creation, education, curatorial practice, and the organization of artistic processes.

For me, these projects became an exploration of painting as a universal language of communication — between the individual and place, different artistic schools, cultures, and generations.

Selected Projects

2008 — Florence, Italy  International Watercolour Plein Air

2010 — Toruń, Poland  Spirit. Image. Sign

2011 — Vilnius, Lithuania  Spirit. Image. Sign

2011 — Iława, Poland  International Student Plein Air

2011 — Krzyżowa, Poland  LNAA Student Plein Air

2012 — Lviv, Ukraine  Lviv. Spirit. Image. Sign — 10th International Student Painting Plein Air

2012 — Lviv, Ukraine  Gaude Polonia Fellows Exhibition

2013 — Zakopane, Poland  Student Plein Air

2014 — Wrocław, Poland  Plein Air with 15 LNAA Students

2014 — Toruń / Iława, Poland  Iława Student Plein Air

2014 — Lviv, Ukraine  Exhibition of Works from Four International Plein Airs · Museum of Ideas

2015 — Wrocław, Poland  Student Plein Air Exhibition

2015 — Bydgoszcz, Poland  LNAA Student Plein Air

2016 — Ukrainian Carpathians  LNAA Painting and Arts Management Student Plein Air