Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Nikolay Havrylovych Shmatko (Ukrainian: Николай Гаврилович Шматько) (born 17 August 1943 in Krasnohorivka) is a contemporary Ukrainian sculptor and painter. He was born in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Shmatko became a sculptor at the age of 33, having previously been a firefighter. He works in marble, inspired by European culture and art. His studio and gallery contain 100 sculptures (more than 70 of which are made of Ural and Italian marble); 30 plaster casts; and about 300 pictures (including paintings, graphics, and architectural designs). In total, there are approximately 750 pieces, ranging from simple decorations to bas-relief and high relief busts and sculptures. Some of these pieces are sexually explicit. Shmatko also works in architecture, and has a design for a penis-shaped high-rise building.
In 2004, for his work "Sviatohorska Blessed Virgin" - a statue of the Virgin Mary (Theotokos "Hegumenia") for Sviato-Uspenskyi Sviatohorskyi Monastery - Shmatko was awarded the order of Nestor Letopisets by Volodymyr Sabodan, the Kiev Metropolitan, and all of Ukraine.
In the fall of 2012, at the invitation of oligarch Viktor Baloha, Shmatko moved with his family to the city of Mukachevo.
Exhibitions
- 2007: Biennale di Firenze 2007, Italy; received 4th place award in sculpture and installation
- 2009: Biennale di Firenze 2009, Italy; Participating Artists 2009
- 2012: ArtMonaco 2012, Monaco; Exposants - Exhibitors, Art Monaco 2012 (page 160)
Works in public collections
- Shmatko's bust of Ivan Maksymovych Soshenko is stored in the museum of Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.
Sviatohorska Blessed Virgin
Sviato-Uspenska
Sviatohirsk Lavra
Sviatohirsk, Ukraine
Foreplay
Ural marble, 66 x 125 x 67
Ivan Soshenko
Taras Shevchenko
Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University
