Vasiliy Yermilov the Constructor

The documentary «Vasiliy Yermilov the Constructor» is a series of sketches for a «portrait» of a an exceptional constructivist artist Vasiliy Yermilov, a acquaintance with a personality from an era of change, an artist, who worked in a totalitarian country, a cosmopolitan, a humanist, an innovator in art.

Vasiliy Yermilov embodied the ideals of a historic era of Ukraine's history, creating the style of the entire era, becoming its artist, a poet of art. Having embraced the Revolution and having believed in it, he became its herald in painintg, having also embraced new materials, familiar to the era.

The era demanded the artist to partake in creation of everyday objects: tribunes and newsstands, advertisement banners and posters. Yermulov worked in Ukrainian «Okna ROSTa», created street and square decoration designs for mass celebrations, agitation train «Ukraine», creating a synthesis of the national and the revolutionary.

Putting an image of the era upon canvas, Yermilov never stayed in the shadow, but lived with his country: he got drafted, went to war, was imprisoned, wrote manifestos, built, studied and taught, loved, hoped, fought for himself, searched, and created.

Looking at Vasiliy Yermilov's life we can see all the contradictions of existential conditions of early 20th century Ukraine. Time used him, and he used time.

It is hard to say, whether a true genius is a «product» of his era, or whether the birth of a genius occurs beyond time, so that he can depict an era. But one thing is for sure – if an era has its artist, then it will not be forgotten, and will go down in history with its true character.

«The master of an era of great turbulence … It was the grand «plywood period» for our art. Every street, every house was screaming with colors, slogans, flowers, banners and arches designed by Vasiliy Yermilov. It was the appeal of the Revolution in color. Nothing like that ever existed before, and, unfortunately, nothing remained for the future. It was the unique style of the era.»