Andriy Pikush

Biography

Andrii Pikush was born on October 29, 1950 in the village of Petrykivka, Dnipro region. He studied the basics of Petrykivka painting with Vasyl Sokolenko at the Petrykivka Children’s Art School named after Tetiana Pata. In 1969, he graduated from the Dnipro State Art School with a degree in Fine Arts and Pedagogy.

Since 1972 he has been teaching, and in 1984-1991 he taught at the Petrykivka Children’s Art School. In 1991, he became the organizer and first director of the Petrykivka Folk Art Center, an enterprise that united the village’s artists after the collapse of the Druzhba factory. Since 2017, he has been the head of the Dnipro organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.

Artistic Practice

Andrii Pikush creates paintings on paper, canvas, wood, ceramics and blown glass, works in batik and wall painting techniques. His works include decorative panels, thematic compositions, and author’s series that combine traditional Petrykivka ornamentation with contemporary artistic thinking.

Recognition

Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine (1981). People’s Artist of Ukraine. Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Participant in numerous regional, national and international exhibitions since 1972. Personal exhibitions were held in Dnipropetrovs’k, Kyiv, Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg), the USA (New York, Chicago), Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk). In 1986, a documentary film Andrii Pikush was made about the artist’s life and work.