‘Balance’

SOAP LAKE — Over the weekend, along with all the Fourth of July festivities, an art show was held in Soap Lake. The show was called ‘Balance’.

The artist, Mihail Kivachitsky, said he has held shows all over the world and his art represents the ways he interprets the world and things that interest him.

He explained that similar to how different societies and cultures, like the Egyptians and Greeks or Romans, would create art or stories about world events or to explain how things came to be, he does the same thing with his art based on his own interests and experiences.

“I do not paint, I illustrate life,” Kivachitsky said in a bio on the International Museum of America website for the Tendergold Gallery Exhibitions. “My paintings are introspective of one’s self-image, and that is shown through this visual poetry. Reflecting real-life nature and symbols I see in the universe. My focus is to display reality in metaphysical nature. Bordering between reality and the supernatural, life has given me a reason to explicate my own visual reflection. Things that touched my soul. My heart. My mind. I draw all of my life and, in turn, learn how to draw all of my life”.

One piece features four beings, each facing each other and holding a dandelion in each hand. The piece represents the universe, Kivachitsky said. Each dandelion, eight in total, represents a planet in our solar system. Each being is facing a different direction to represent the four directions of north, south, east and west.

Another piece appears to feature two women being circled by two sharks and smoke. Kivachitsky said his piece retells the Hawaiin legend of the goddess Pele and her sister Hi‘iaka forming the volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands.

The show, held at 10 E Main Street, saw dozens of guests wander in amidst the different activities of the weekend. Guests had the chance to meet and talk with Kivachitsky about the different pieces and their meanings.

While this show only featured paintings, Kivachitsky said he also creates sculptures usually made of bronze.

While the two pieces mentioned earlier were two of the larger paintings in the show, Kivachitsky had more than 20 pieces of all sizes on display. He sold at least 11 paintings from the show by the time of his interview with the Columbia Basin Herald.

Kivachitsky was raised in what used to be the Soviet Union more specifically Bishkek, Krgyzstan, but is currently based in California.

A YouTube video by the International Art Museum of America - SF showcases some of Kivachitsky’s art, including some shown at the Soap Lake show. The video can be found at https://youtu.be/kXVbKEozARo.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherlad.com.