Art expands the horizons of ordinary life. It speaks out ideas that are beyond everyday life. Shows beauties that you don’t notice in everyday life. Artists mostly express these “transcendental” ideas with visible colors, tangible forms, audible sounds…
The work of Lviv artist Askold Kucher stands apart in this regard. His art is “over-the-top” both literally and figuratively. He not only works beyond the horizon of everyday aesthetics. But he also operates with an instrument that is imperceptible to humans – ultrasound.
Communicating with him, it’s as if you are transported to the Renaissance, when there was no difference between a scientist and an artist. When a meticulously drawn human figure evoked not only an aesthetic impression, but also suggested the nuances of anatomy. Centuries later, both medicine and art changed their optics, allowing a person to peer far beyond the horizons of the visible, audible and tangible.
Askold Kucher is one of the few domestic artists who work in the territory of our underdeveloped science art (scientific art). He told us about what an easel replaces for him and what paints do, how the alchemy of his creativity occurs, and how to achieve pure abstraction using an ultrasonic scanner.
In scienceart, the question of what comes first: technology or creative intent remains unanswered. What was primary in your work?
Of course, without technology my works would not have appeared. Since 1989 I have been involved in ultrasound diagnostics. At that time, only black and white photographs could be taken. And over time, it became possible to save these images on a computer. Before this, I photographed these images on film. Only in 2010 did I purchase a device that was capable of high-quality scanning in a wide color gamut and saving images.
What are you scanning to get these images?
Liquids, solutions of different densities, suspensions, etc. Sometimes during scanning I place certain objects in liquids. At the moment of ultrasonic scanning, some of the rays pass through matter, some of the rays are scattered, and some return to the ultrasonic sensor, which emitted this beam of rays. As a result, such abstractions are obtained.
What about the human body?
Ultrasound began to be used in medicine due to the fact that a person consists of 80% liquid. But scanning a person for the sake of beautiful images is not ethical. In addition, additional permissions are required to publish such images.
Your works are very abstract, but some have recognizable silhouettes, shapes…
Yes, some of them show some figurative features. For example, on this one you can discern the outlines of Ukraine.
I want to move into pure abstraction. Although it is very difficult. You must have a lot of experience in order to, relatively speaking, create capacious content with two strokes.
If you strive for pure abstraction, then why do you leave the right column with technical data in your works?
By this I show that my works are pure science art. It is important for me to show the convergence of science and art. In addition, this confirms that the work was not just done using some kind of graphic editor.
At your exhibitions you are immersed in a meditative state…
When I am creative, I meditate. I listen to good music – classical or jazz. I concentrate and at a certain moment I seem to merge into a single whole with it. This way I isolate myself from all this fuss and medical work. After all, my work is not entirely aesthetic – people with problems come to me for examinations. So when I’m creative, I get away from it all. This is probably why people perceive my works meditatively – they come to exhibitions several times and stand in front of the works for a long time. Perhaps, in this way, they also run away from everyday dullness and anality…
Your works are exhibited either in the form of video art or in the form of light boxes, when a lamp shines from behind the canvas on which the abstraction is printed. In this case, the illusion of screen painting is created. But you print some of your work on paper. For what? Indeed, in this case, the colors no longer look so bright and the effect of light from within is lost.
One of the great artists (if my memory serves me correctly – Picaso) said that average artists copy, and high-class artists steal ideas. On the one hand, I steal ideas from famous masters – such as Rothko, Newman, Pollock. On the other hand, I copy myself when I print out some of my abstractions. I transfer some of my works, obtained using an ultrasound scanner, onto canvas using acrylic and gouache.
By the way, my colleagues help me in creating video art works. The music for the video art was written by urologist Yulian Mytsyk, and editing was done by anesthesiologist and resuscitator Yura Sushko.
Does your creativity contribute to discoveries in science?
Doctors use an ultrasound machine with no more than 10% of the options that its creators included. This is enough for a doctor’s daily work. Co.
When I am creative, I use almost all the functions of the equipment. And when I discovered the additional capabilities of this technology in my creativity, I began to actively use them during procedures. Accordingly, diagnostics have reached a higher level.
Is there a difference between scanning living and dead matter? Aesthetically.
Both dead and living matter – the physical body. Aesthetically, both are beautiful. True, in my work it is easier to deal with inanimate matter – I can stop it, rotate it… But for example, when I had a master class at the Mystetsky Arsenal and I scanned fish, the picture there constantly changed depending on their movement.
Some of your works are accompanied by stories from your personal life.
Somehow it naturally turns out that works in cold colors are created in winter, and in summer paintings in warm colors are often produced. Personal mood also affects the color.
When I created this work, I felt some kind of unity with the highest. At that time I was communicating with a priest. Tiberius Silvashi once said that an artist should be in his studio every day. Even if you don’t want to work, you still need to come there just to sit and be in this atmosphere. For me, this atmosphere is my office, where I see patients. When I carry out procedures with patients, some ideas for future work are deposited in the subconscious.