ARTISTIC AND CURATORIAL PRACTICE OF TARAS TABAKA IN THE CONTEXT OF TRANSFORMATIONS OF TRANSCARPATHIAN ART IN THE LATE 20TH – EARLY 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

The article analyzes the artistic and curatorial practice of Taras Tabaka in the context of transformations of artistic paradigms in Transcarpathia from the late 20th to the early 21st century. The object of the study is the artist’s creative activity, while the subject is the specific features of its formation and functioning as an integrated artistic and curatorial strategy under the conditions of shifting artistic orientations in the post-Soviet period. The aim of the article is to identify the specific character of Taras Tabaka’s individual artistic position and to determine its role in the transformation of the regional artistic environment. The study examines the main stages of the artist’s creative development –from the practices of the late 1980s and early 1990s, associated with overcoming the traditions of the Transcarpathian school of painting, to the realization of conceptually oriented artistic and curatorial projects of the 2000s–2020s. It has been established that the formation of the artist’s creative strategy was influenced by broader Ukrainian and international artistic processes of the 1990s, which led to a shift from representational to non-figurative and process-oriented forms of artistic expression. It is demonstrated that the artist’s individual projects reveal a consistent intensification of reflexive and conceptual dimensions, while his curatorial activity is aimed at creating a communicative environment within which art functions as an open system of interaction. It is substantiated that the practice of Taras Tabaka plays a significant role in the transformation of the artistic environment of Transcarpathia, particularly in the reconfiguration of artistic priorities, the reconsideration of the role of painting, and the establishment of new forms of exhibition space organization. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive consideration of the artist’s work as an integral system that combines artistic and curatorial activities and reflects the processes of changing artistic paradigms at the regional level. The methodological framework is based on biographical, formal-stylistic, contextual, and interpretative methods, the application of which has made it possible to identify the structural and conceptual features of the artist’s creative practice.