AN-02 (series Avtonavantazhuvach) Print

The Forklift art project is the imaging of an industrial object related to a bygone era and the visual associations or reflections evoked by the first one. Completely forgotten today, this bizarre vehicle was a characteristic symbol of the industrial past of my city of Lviv. Lviv Forklift Plant, which produced forklifts from 1948 to 1991, was to some extent a unique enterprise. No plants of this kind existed at that time in the entire space which is called post-socialist today. As a child, I had the opportunity to watch the forklifts descending from the conveyor and moving to a special parking area nearby the place my grandparents lived. These child's impressions are still present, and the image of an AP-4045 forklift, that became vintage, evokes strange feelings and warm memories. In the project, the stencils images of the forklifts are associated with the conveyor belt and the era of "socialist competition". This idea was inspired by the fact that in 1974 alone, the plant produced 50 units daily, and until 1975, the forklifts produced by the plant were used in 26 countries. Each subsequent canvas is a continuation of the previous one as an episode in a long-running series. In this project, I continue to use my individual philosophy of a "subjective reality" where a combination of incompatible things or circumstances flirts with time (eras)and encourages reflections.