Cherson 2023 Print

I am a contemporary artist. My work maneuvers on the edge of desires to be together in search of freedom Я современный художник, моя работа находится на грани желания быть вместе в поисках свободы. Ik ben een hedendaagse kunstenaar; mijn werk manoeuvreert op de rand van verlangens om samen te zijn op zoek naar vrijheid. ---***---- Andrej Babenko is a Belgian artist with Ukrainian roots. He grows up in an environment permeated by Soviet propaganda. Babenko is inspired by the classical school of Russian painters, but also by the forbidden rock scene of the 1980s. When he is14 years old, he flees his parental home in Ukraine and moves to Saint-Petersburg where things start to go wrong. Eventually he finds a safe home base in Belgium. There he trains, next to applying for political asylum and with a view to job security, as a graphic designer, which makes Babenko become a highly qualified poster designer of Opera Ballet van Vlaanderen. Yet, his true passion still lies with painting, which he decides to pursue further. Babenko’s works are monumental. They reflect daily life, as well as the inner demons that he is trying to deal with. They show society with all its contrasts, struggles and hypocrisy and present a whirlwind of characters, colour, drama and melancholy blended together. Layers of oil paint are combined in an explosive, organic way with the speed of graffiti techniques. Influences of and similarities with Neo Rauch, Salvador Dali, Jheronimus Bosch and Francis Bacon can be discerned. Andrej Babenko also shows his work through performances in which music, poetry and live painting are brought together as well as through workshops in a museum context, or for young people from socially vulnerable environments. To this end, he has worked together with Mauro Pawlowski and Dirk De Wachter among others. Babenko is listed in the Kunstenaarsdatabank, the Belgian list of professional artists and art heritage:https://databank.kunsten.be/audiovisuele-beeldende-kunsten/profielen/kunstenaars/ent:dkb:ppl:1962138/andrej-babenko/