Max Vityk is a Ukrainian-American artist who currently resides in Sedona, Arizona.  He initially obtained a doctorate in geology, and now he explores both figurative and abstract art, inspired by his geological knowledge.

 

Total abstraction is by definition the complete lack of subject matter. Max Vityk’s abstract series of sculptural paintings appear to be completely non-representational, yet are based on the most concrete of subjects—the Earth’s geological formations. Vityk has developed a distinctive new technique -- durable but surprisingly light weight -- which creates amazing textures reminiscent of vivid rock formations. These textures ooze and flow, suspended on large-scale canvases as if at any moment they may succumb to the forces of gravity and drip from the wall. The colors, combined with the craggy, undulating paint, speak to long-buried layers of prehistoric Earth and, at the same time, to brilliant minerals too fantastical to be earth-bound.

 

Vityk’s figurative art is an investigation of the narrative elements and figures from ancient rock engravings as mythological and folk symbols.  These series invoke parts of myths, traditions, and insights into universal neo-mythological chimerical human, animal and plants images.  The main thread of Vityk’s figurative art is the pathos of naive visions.  In one of his latest series “The Warriors of Light,” the artist is "modernizing" archetypal mystical material to convey current events onto the plane of the eternal struggle between good and evil.

 

Vityk has exhibited extensively, including most recently solo exhibitions at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, ArtMarts Gallery in Cairo, Egypt and International Museum Art and Science, McAllen, Texas. His solo exhibitions have been presented at Scope Art fair in Basel, Context Art fairs in New York and Miami, and at Art Kyiv Contemporary Fair in Ukraine. Vityk's work  has been included in various group exhibitions at art institutions internationally, including the Novomatic Forum in Vienna, Darb Art Center in Cairo, and the Arsenal Museum Collection in Kyiv. His project “Energy” is on permanent display at Shell Headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands. Vityk’s work is included in the permanent collections of several Ukrainian museums.