Podolchak was born in
Lviv,
Ukrainian SSR,
USSR (now
Ukraine). He graduated from Lviv Academy of Fine Arts (then Lviv State Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts) with distinction in 1984. From 1984 to 1985 he served in the
Soviet Border Troops on the Soviet-Polish border.
From 1985 to 1986 he worked in the Art Fund of the Union of Artists of Ukraine. Since 1986, he has been a free artist and curator of contemporary art. He has also been a participant and laureate of numerous international exhibitions, organized and held in various international exhibitions across Ukraine, Russia, the US, and Norway.After completing his military service, he founded Production Center ltd, a company engaged in film production, creating series projects for Ukrainian and Russian TV channels. [3]
After establishing the
Masoch Fund, together with Igor Durich, he actively conducted various artistic projects in Ukraine, Russia, and in Germany. Since 1997, he has been engaged in the integrated design of the visual-image components of political election campaigns[4] in both Ukraine and Russia. Since 2006, he has written, scripted, shot, and produced movies such as:
Podolchak works in different genres of fine art –
painting,
prints,
photography,
video art and art actions. At the beginning of his career, the graphics prevailed,[5] and from the mid-1990s makes art actions and
performances, from the late 1990s video art.
In the center of Podolchak's creativity, is a human body[6] in its various manifestations, relationships with other bodies, as well as in different stages of decomposition.[7] In the artistic development of the theme of decomposition and decay there are only two types of matter, two definite formations of "flesh" – human and architectural. They are the receptacles of all sorts of energies, the connections of various
semiotic codes – the most clearly demonstrated manifestations of regressive forces. The propensity to the metamorphoses of decomposition reveals and, in a special way, mythologizes the "corporeality" of these two organisms, and the inconstancy of the point of view on their relations in this state (fluctuations from
allegory to
thriller), constantly improves the
iconography of Podolchak's aesthetics in general.[8]
The artist's book Jacob Bohme was awarded as World's Best Book (Bronze Medal) by Stiftung Buchkunst Frankfurt am Main at
Frankfurt Book Fair. One of his 24 personal exhibitions was the first art exhibition ever to be held in space, at space station
Mir[9] on January 25, 1993. Artworks of Podolchak can be found in 26 museums and public collections worldwide.
Cinema
Both Podolchak's films have common characteristic features: departure from
narrative,
anthropology of enclosed worlds, elaborated composition of frame, unusual
shooting angles. The spaces of Las Meninas and Delirium are similarly dense, difficult for movement, tiresome both for the characters moving within them and the viewers watching them. This reflects the time of "
the end of history" with its
somnambulism, impotence, morbidity and hopelessness.
Las Meninas is Podolchak's debut full-length film. He wrote, directed and produced it. The film had a world premiere at the
International Film Festival Rotterdam in the competition program on January 25, 2008.[10] Overall, it has participated in 27 international film festivals, including 10 competition programs.
Delirium is Podolchak's second full-length feature. Its script is based on the story Inductor by the Ukrainian writer and journalist Dmytro Belyanskyi. The film's production lasted during 2008–2010. For the first time fragments of the film were demonstrated in 2012 on the 45th
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the program Films in production. New full-length films from Central and Eastern Europe.[11] After the prerelease screenings, Ukrainian film critics compared the second film of Podolchak to the works of
Alain Robbe-Grillet,
Pedro Costa and
Nikos Nikolaidis.
Position 5 in Top-10 Ukrainian films of 2012 by "Афіша@Mail.Ru".[12]
100 Імен. Сучасне мистецтво України періоду Незалежності. (100 names. Contemporary Ukrainian Art from the Independence Time.) Київ: Видавництво "Мысль", 2008
ISBN978-966-8527-62-3(in Ukrainian)
Bang-Heun, Cynn. Igor Podolchak. Catalog. Seoul: Ga In Gallery, 1992
Böhme Jakob; Podolczak Igor;
Tomkowski Jan. Artist's Book. Lodz: Correspondance des Arts II, 1993.
OCLC245835402
Callaghan B. Fifteen Years in Exile. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1992
ISBN1-55096-025-3
Dyurych I,; Podolchak, I.
Art in SpaceArchived 2012-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine. Special Edition for São Paulo Biennial. Kyiv: Masoch Fund, 1994
Raine, C.; Podolczak, Igor. Gilgamesh. Lodz, Poland: Book Art Museum, 1995.
OCLC82268972
Rosiak, M. Igor Podolczak. Grafika. Catalog. Poznan: Galeria'72, 1989
Rudel, J. Apocalypses: Rencontres Du Manege Royal.. La Garenne-Colombes: Editions de l'Espace européen, 1991
ISBN2-7388-0139-0OCLC31674573
Voznyak, T. Ihor Podolchak. Catalog. Lviv: Ukrainian Independent Center of Contemporary Art, 1991.
OCLC224935917(in Ukrainian)
Лук'янець В., Носко К. Де кураторство. (Where is the curatorial). — Х.: IST Publishing. 2017. — 256 p. Pages 40–47.
ISBN978-966-97657-0-3(in Ukrainian)
Paintings, prints, photos. Catalog · Fur, Gala. Dictionnaire du BDSM. Paris: La Musardine, 2016. pp. 3, 108, 153, 274.
ISBN2842718259,
ISBN978-2842718251 · 100 names. Contemporary Ukrainian Art from the Independence Time. Київ: Видавництво «Мысль», 2008
ISBN978-966-8527-62-3 ·
Books
Offenbarungen über den Gott ... Lodz: Correspondance des Arts II, 1993,
OCLC498467121 · Gilgamesh. Lodz: Book Art Museum. 1995,
OCLC82268972 · Corpus Delicti. Post-erotic art photography. Prague: Masoch Fund, 1998,
ISBN9789667167165 · Igor Podolchak: immoral-immortal. Lviv:
Masoch Fund, 1999.
ISBN9665371150 ·