On December 13, 2019, O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum hosted an art event and a theatrical performance – the opening of the exhibition “Let’s meet on St. Andrew’s Eve” dedicated to the memory of the artists Andrii Lipatov which presented within a new art-project “An exhibition of one painting” a painting by Merited Artist of Ukraine Andrii Nadezhdin “A mirror, a cat, a top hat, and a cigar end or Dream about the artist who created the colored world” from the museum collection “Modern Ukrainian Visual Art”.
    “The composition of the painting created in 2018 is comprised of Andrii Lipatov’s fragments of works, where he depicts himself in different characters – Velour cat, Explorer, Illusionist – wizard. In fact, it is a poetic narration that encourages viewers to contemplate on the understanding of life and the creative work of the artist Andrii Lipatov, who sincerely loved his town of Yelisavethrad, steppe land, and Ukraine. A red cat in a spectacular top hat, with portrait features of the artist on his face, is a real magician who turns a grey world into a colorful painting of life. The image of a cigar end denotes that his story isn’t finished but begins with new ideas”, - mentioned the author of the painting and the curator of the event, leading researcher of the museum, Merited Artist of Ukraine Andrii Nadezhdin in his speech.
    The event started with a video story about a talented artist. The event was held on Saint Andrew's Day, a folk-Christian holiday that is filled with special sacraments in the Ukrainian tradition; and that is why Andrew was invited to it.
    Andrii Lipatov (1960-2010) – a mechanic-engineer by specialty, and an artist - by vocation. A member of the National Union of Folk Art Artists of Ukraine. His works were exhibited at all-Ukrainian exhibitions of folk, decorative and applied and naive art in Kyiv (1997, 2005), Festivals of Naive Art in France and Russia (2006-2008), Art Trade Fairs in Great Britain and Ireland (2007-2008). He is a winner of the 7th International Art and Photo Contest in Yokohama, Japan (2002) and a winner of the 12th Salon Diogenes Taborda in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2007). Personal exhibitions had been successfully organized not only in our town but in Odesa, Kyiv, Moscow (Russia), and Cambridge (Great Britain). In 1999, to the 245th anniversary of our town, the artist organized a vernissage in O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum. He presented more than 40 paintings from the series “The Town of Yelisavethrad” and “People’s pictures”.
    In 2004, he published a set of souvenir postcards of the reproductions of the author’s paintings “From the Railway Station to the Municipal Gardens” at his own expense. The postcards depicted themes of the life of an old Yelisavethrad. The publication was dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the native town. This year, to the 265th anniversary of Kropyvnytskyi a mural was created on the wall of the Regional Art Museum. The mural depicts one of the pictures from the set of postcards titles “A Walk along Dvortsova Street”. Andrii Khvorost suggested the idea of the mural creation. The works of the talented artist Andrii Lipatov are kept in the collections of the following museums: O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum, Regional Art Museums in Kropyvnytskyi and Cherkasy, Museums of Naive Art in Moscow (Russia) and Beraut (France), Vihorlat Museum (Humenne, Slovakia), Fund of Culture Volpe Stressens (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and in many private collections in Ukraine, Russia, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, the Baltics.
    Then art magic began in the museum. The organizer of the art event, Andrii Nadezhdin: “We wanted not only to tell about the work and life of the artist but also to create an atmosphere for everybody present to feel their involvement to the moment of creation, to understand that they also can be artists in a broader meaning of this word, because people are born to create. It encouraged the idea of the flashmob “Share art”. Everybody present was given formatted reproductions of the works of the artist. After the speech and discussion about Andrii’s creative work based on the video presentation and Andrii Lipatov’s original works from the museum collection and the private collection of the artist’s good friend, a famous photographer Oleksandr Shuleshko, everybody was suggested to realize a demonstrative act of sharing the works’ reproductions in the following way: to stand up and turn to each other. It testified that art is alive until it moves in the public environment, until we look at, communicate, and share emotions from the seen and heard, express our feelings by creating new, personal painting on the suggestion of the artist.
    The next stage of the event was a performance “A Secret Room of Creative Work”. Only the author of the paintings could lead us to it. Since he couldn’t be with us in real life to do it, his pictorial images represented by different roles took the role – sun hit Artist and Illusionist Bluebeard, Light in the center of the Creative Universe, or Beekeeper, who came from Mykola Gogol’s stories, and also his name – Andrii. So I suggested that all Andrews in the hall turn into a collective image of the artist. They put on masks of the fantastic self-portraits and took flashlights to lead us to the secret room that kept one of the everyday mysteries of the life of his paintings. Everyone agreed, including the head of the Regional Organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Andrii Khvorost, and the director of the popular town bookstore “Knyharnia “Ye” Andrii Domaranskyi, and deputy mayor Andrii Palyvoda, and a young cellist Andrii Chernov, because this evening they were just Andrewa and could be involved in magical transformations.
    The secret room opened its doors. Everybody was welcomed by the installation on the table. It was illuminated by the candles light and flashlight. Bright fruits, pieces of dark bread, gingerbreads, and croissants, and a wonderful salad “From Andrii Lipatov” impressed everyone by the coincidence with the objects from the painting they kept in hands. And Velour Cat was a master of this gastronomic ceremony. He smiled at everyone and looked with the eyes wide open from the painting standing on a small easel be the table. The light was turned on, Andrews put off the masks demonstrating that they remain themselves but a part of the artist in whose image they transformed will stay with them, forever”.
     The event finished with a friendly communication of the fans of the talented artist Andrii Lipatov.