Alexander Bondarchuk
b. Dnipro, Ukraine, 1957
y. active 1989 - present
In Jerusalem Jews are Praying for Ukraine by the Wailing Wall
pastel on paper, 13.8 x 19.7 in
Created on March 29, 2022
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See all of the works in the exhibit HERE
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At the time of painting, the artist was in Dnipro in central Ukraine in his suburban studio. He did not have to flee.
$1,500
All proceeds go to help artists in Ukraine and to foster US-Ukraine cultural ties and cooperation. Please use Contact Form or see restaurant staff if you are interested in purchasing.
Alexander is an architect by training with a wealth of completed projects all over Ukraine and beyond. However, art accompanied him throughout his life. He started art school at the age of 10 finishing in four years, and graduated from the Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture in his native city, while apprenticing with a variety of accomplished sculptors and painters from all of the former Soviet Union. Over the years Alexander used art as an escape from his daily routine, eventually making it his main focus and occupation after retiring from architecture. He regularly takes part in domestic and international art, pottery, and ceramics exhibitions.
Alexander visited Jerusalem in 2010 and was by the Western Wall. Being a spiritual person he had a powerful experience and felt a connection to the place. For this painting, he was overtaken by the photo that he saw while looking through the news of the war. He realized that this feeling had to be expressed. The picture was taken by an unknown photographer. It shows a group of Jewish people draped in Ukrainian flag praying with their foreheads to the Wailing Wall. It is believed that it was taken on February 27, 2022 when hundreds of people appeared at the Western Wall to pray for the welfare of Jews in Ukraine. To see what looked like mostly Orthodox Jews, in their ceremonial clothes, hats, yarmulke, suddenly wrapping themselves in Ukrainian flag and praying for the welfare and peace in the country far away resonated with Alexander. He got to working on it that same day and finished it in about an hour. Who knows what all those people by the wall were reflecting on; maybe viewing the situation through the prism of the war that has been going on in Israel for decades, or seeing this aggression as a new manifestation of the evil that we all thought was vanquished in the middle of the 20th century.