Mykola Bilous born in 1956 in the Lisovichi village, Kyiv region, invented a new method of harmonising colours through inversion – change of colours –regulated by certain rules. The first one rule is to use the basic tone (a mix of three core colours – red, blue, and yellow) and the second, is to put a thin layer of open colours based on the complementarity principle, the links between the key and auxiliary colours which are opposite. These rules were developed by the theorists of the Bauhaus school.
Mykola Bilous lays the basic tone as shadow and colours as light. He works with open colours. The black colour is just the air, fully excluded from the basic composition. The figures of the characters appear brightly illuminated at night, or that they make up a theatrical scene, where the background is darkened. The plot of an artwork is secondary to the artist compared to the colour solution, the combination of open colours without undertones.
The combination of the relief and poster-like aesthetics, in the author’s perception, combines the two spaces – the sculptural and optical. The artwork is both flat and volumetric at the same time. This formal solution is original and offers a different semantic line versus the plot line of the artwork. The range and arrangement of colours are of key significance. Mykola Bilous is a post-medial artist; in his art he often goes back to the film frames that were previously borrowed by cameramen from painting classics.
Education and experience
1982 Graduated from Crimean art school
1987 Graduated from Art and Industry institute in Kharkiv
1983 Internship in the high school of design in Galla, Germany
1988-1996 Teacher of art disciplines on the architectural design sub-faculty, department of artistic ceramics of National technical university named after Y.Kondratyk in Poltava
Exhibitions
ArtVienna – 2022
POSITIONS BERLIN – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022
WopArt Lugano – 2019
Scope NY – 2019
Scope Miami Beach – 2017, 2018
Scope Basel – 2017
Contemporary Istanbul -2012
ART-VILNIUS – 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022
International Vilnius Painting Triennial “Nomadic Images” – 2016
Art-Moscow – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Salon D’automne, Paris – 2009
Art Cinema », National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow – 2009
Self-acquisition, Tsekh, Kiev – 2008
Cultural and exhibition centre « Gallilei » -Moscow, 2007
His works are in the city galleries and in private collections in Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Brasilia, Austria, Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, USA, Russia and Ukraine.