June 13
17 June 2008 the PinchukArtCentre presents "Paul McCartney. Paintings"
"Paul McCartney. Paintings" exhibition will be on view in the PinchukArtCentre from 17 June till 13 July. The exhibition presents 41 works by Sir Paul McCartney created from 1988 to 1999. Several works will be exhibited in public for the first time. Paul McCartney's first ever art exhibition took place in 1999 in Siegen, Germany. This exhibition of McCartney paintings is the first in the Eastern Europe.
Much like Willem de Kooning, McCartney is interested in the act of painting. He is not content with free abstraction, but is a distant relative of American expressionism with French Surrealist influences. McCartney, however, brings the surrealist play with elements from reality to an abstract level. Taking a closer look at his oeuvre, it seems as if McCartney never uses a definite style, or even that he does not aspire to develop a personal style. What the works have in common, however, has to do with the artist's method. It's as simple as the way McCartney applies paint onto the canvas, paints over existing paintings or paints over found materials on canvas.
From a historical perspective, painting is a way to represent a view or an image of reality. Through the ages, artists have searched for ways to render reality as true as possible, using perspective, shading and balanced composition. But that is not how Paul McCartney creates paintings. McCartney chooses painting itself as the subject of his paintings - a vehicle for connecting thoughts and ideas. He also leaves so called external decisions, such as the choice of colour, the brush style and the scale of each painting series to the process of creating the painting.
Paul McCartney's sole contribution regards the structure of the work and the way he combs the canvas with paint, using simple, playful, yet active brushstrokes. At times he pours the paint directly on the canvas, also without making pre-conceived choices, such as Georg Baselitz, Franz Kline, Gerhard Richter or Julian Schnabel have done.
In doing so, McCartney seeks to change the rules concerning the final image, composition, foreground, background and the combination of colours. With his works, there is just the act of applying the paint to the canvas. This is the purest form of painting.
Sir Paul McCartney will open a show personally on the following day after the Independence Concert that he presents on Saturday 14th June 2008 in Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine. The exhibition will be open for public visiting on the June 17 - just a one day before Paul McCartney's birthday.
Paul McCartney had no formal art-education even though as a child he won an Art Prize at school. He seriously started painting when he first met Willem de Kooning who has played a big influence on his art. During the last 20 years Paul has created about 500 works. He does not sell his paintings and keeps all works at his studio. For a long time Paul McCartney didn't publicly show his work. The first public exhibition of his paintings was held in 1999 in Germany. [top]
June 11
The interview of Paul McCartney 2 days before the concert
Courtesy MPL communications
1) Congratulations on your Liverpool show. Great show, great reviews. How was it for you?
PM: It was a great day. We had a lot of fun. The audience was fantastic too. It's always great playing to a home crowd. Playing in Liverpool brings back a lot of great memories for me.
2) Are you looking forward to Saturday? The UK press said that if Anfield had a roof you would have blown it off. Well if Independence Sq had a roof would you blow that off too?
PM: We definitely hope to. Perhaps this time we will knock their socks off instead! Saturday's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it. Every time I speak to someone who has been to Kiev before they keep telling me what a great place it is with lots of history.
3) Playing to 36,000 people is one thing but to hundreds of thousands is something else! How do you prepare for a show of this size?
PM: Well in the same way really. You pick the setlist and what you think will work as a starting point and take it from there. We have to rehearse this one as we would for any out-door or stadium show. Everything is on a slightly larger scale.
4) How is your Ukrainian?
PM: Fabulous. Ha! No, I'm taking lessons.
5) The Ukraine media have been voting for their favourite all time Paul McCartney song. Do you have an all time favourite Ukrainian song?
PM: I heard a Ukrainian cover of She Loves You, which I thought was pretty cool.
6) 'Dance Tonight' went down really well in Liverpool. Can we expect anything else from Memory Almost Full on Saturday?
PM: I'm keeping the setlist close to my chest at the moment. We don't want to give anything away ahead of the performance otherwise there will be no surprises. So I'm not telling anyone!
7) We know you can play many instruments but can you play the Kobza?
PM: Yes, I play it every night (joking)
The kobza (is a traditional Ukrainian stringed instrument, of the lute family)
8) 'The Ukraine Girls really knock me out', discuss...
PM: They leave the west behind...
9) First Liverpool, now Kiev, there are plenty of rumours about a tour, any truth in the rumours?
PM: A tour is being talked about but there is no definite news at the moment.
10) You have just donated a new track, recorded as The Fireman to the Adopt A Minefield charity - any further Fireman plans?
PM: We have recorded an album and hope to release it sometime later this year. Watch this space.
[top]
McCartney to take a crash-course language lesson for Independence Concert
June 11Paul McCartney will be seeing a language coach to be taught some instant Ukrainian, backstage before his concert this weekend in Kiev.
McCartney is to learn some of the language in just under an hour so that he can talk to the crowd in their native language at his special free Independence Concert this weekend. It's expected that hundreds of thousands of people will come from all over the Ukraine to watch this historic show.
The McCartney concert at Independence Square, Kiev on June 14th will be the biggest concert ever mounted in Kiev. The massive stage will be the largest ever built for a McCartney show, featuring spectacular visual images played throughout the gig on giant screens.
Organisers say the 150-minute show will be crammed with Beatles, Wings and solo songs. McCartney is expected to play more than 30 greatest hits in the show.
But besides singing the songs that everybody knows, Paul is planning to talk to them too - in Ukrainian.
An insider said: "Paul likes to talk to the audience in their own language; he introduces songs and chats away in their native tongue. It makes the gig more intimate and personal. Because Paul is a musician, he's got a good ear and that helps him learn languages phonetically and very fast".
But as Paul does not speak Ukrainian, he will have just one hour backstage before the concert to learn the local dialect for his onstage announcements.
Paul is no stranger to learning new languages. Of course his German is pretty good after his years in Hamburg and on previous world tours he has learnt Japanese, Hungarian, Norwegian and many more along the way. When he played in Moscow in 2003 he even took language tips from President Putin himself! [top]
June 4
Interactive map of Ukraine created
on the verge of Paul McCartney's concert in Kyiv
Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Ukrainian fan clubs of
the Beatles launched project Interactive Map of Ukraine on the site "Beatles in
my life" (www.beatlesinmylife.org.ua)
dedicated to Sir Paul McCartney's Independence Concert to be held on June 14 in Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)
in Kyiv.
Within the framework of the project each site visitor
can leave his message to all Ukrainians and place it with his photo and video
on the electronic map of Ukraine.
Map placing for Ukrainians will depend upon the conditional region where the
messager lives. Foreigners will be placed on the map at random.
The project creators plan to fill the interactive map
with messages from people living in different regions of Ukraine before
Sir Paul's concert. "Find those words which will be close and clear to all
Ukrainians. To everybody who values freedom, love and happiness. To everybody
who wants to live in free and affluent country with East and West united!", the
address to the site visitors proclaims.
As it was informed, Paul McCartney's concert in Maydan
Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv will take place on June 14. Preparations are in final
phase. According to Mr. Nikita Poturaev, Advisor to the Victor Pinchuk Foundation,
Sir Paul himself contributes very much to elaboration of Kyiv concert script.
The performance engages over two hundred best British
professionals in many fields. Attendees of the show will enjoy a number of
sound and visual innovations, new light effects etc. Acoustic and other
equipment for the show is collected from different countries of the world and
the cutting-edge music technologies will be applied at the concert.
Weight of equipment needed for the concert is supposed
to exceed 80 mt. It will have been delivered to Kyiv by more than 20 large
goods vehicles by June 4 when the stage assembling starts in Maydan. Paul
McCartney prepares this show as absolutely unique event, - Mr. Nikita Poturaev
emphasized, - It is neither part of the world tour nor ordinary concert. It
will be his first large-scale concert abroad after nearly four years. It is an
unprecedented event both in Ukraine
and in the world". [top]
Paul McCartney's concert
broadcast in Festival Quay of Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk has joined participating cities of
Ukraine-wide TV marathon and on-line broadcasting of Paul McCartney's Kyiv
concert. Broadcasting in Dnipropetrovsk will take place at 8.00 p.m. on June 14 in Festival Quay.
Independence Concert as Sir Paul McCartney entitled it
will be the first in Ukraine's
history and the first foreign concert of the legendary member of the Liverpool quartet "The Beatles" after four
years.
People living in Dnipropetrovsk and the city guests
will watch on-line concert on the screen sized 6x8 m.
Ukraine-wide TV marathon dedicated to the concert will
start at 8.00. It will involve people living in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and
Donetsk and
attendees of the concert in Kyiv. On-line appearances of each city will be
provided during the marathon when people living in 5 participating cities will
sing one song of the Beatles in live. [top]
June 2
Paul McCartney's concert
broadcast in Svoboda Square
in Kharkiv
Kharkiv has decided upon the venue of on-line
broadcasting of Paul McCartney's Kyiv concert. Screen sized 10x7 m will be
installed in Svoboda Square
on June 14.
People living in Kharkiv and the city guests will be
able to participate in Ukraine-wide TV marathon and watch on-line concert of
Paul McCartney. Sir Paul entitled this first concert in Ukraine and
abroad after nearly four years Independence Concert.
On June 14 at 8.00 p.m. special TV marathon dedicated
to the concert will start in Svoboda
Square in Kharkiv. It will involve people living
in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk
and attendees of the concert in Kyiv. On-line appearances of each city will be
provided during the marathon when people living in 5 participating cities will
sing one song of the Beatles in live. We kindly invite people living in Kharkiv
and the city guests to join the TV marathon and watch on-line concert in Svoboda Square. [top]
May 30
Paul McCartney's concert: "It
is an unprecedented event both in Ukraine and in the world"
Only 15 days left before Paul McCartney's concert in
Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence
Square) in Kyiv. Preparations of the event which
scale can impress the world are in full swing. According to the Victor Pinchuk
Foundation's representatives who are organizers of Paul McCartney's concert,
Paul himself contributes very much to elaboration of Kyiv concert script.
The performance engages over two hundred best British
professionals in many fields. Attendees of the show of the famous ex-member of
the Beatles will enjoy a number of sound and visual innovations, new light
effects etc. Acoustic and other equipment for the show is collected from
different countries of the world and the cutting-edge music technologies will
be applied at the concert.
All the equipment will be delivered only by large
goods vehicles since air and railway transportation is inappropriate.
Weight of equipment needed for the concert is supposed
to exceed 80 mt. It will have been delivered to Kyiv by more than 20 large
goods vehicles by June 4 (when the stage assembling starts in Maydan). "Sir
Paul prepares this show as absolutely unique event. It is neither part of the
world tour nor ordinary concert. It will be his first large-scale concert
abroad after nearly four years. It is an unprecedented event both in Ukraine
and in the world", - Mr. Nikita Poturaev, Advisor to the Victor Pinchuk Foundation,
stated. [top]
People living in Donetsk will watch
broadcasting of Kyiv concert of Paul McCartney
Donetsk joined the company of participating cities
of Ukraine-wide TV marathon and on-line broadcasting of Kyiv concert of Paul
McCartney. On June 14 people living in Donetsk,
Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv can watch the first concert of Paul
McCartney after four years and the first concert in Ukraine which the singer entitled
Independence Concert.
Venue of on-line broadcasting in Donetsk has been already chosen. It is Scherbakov Recreation Park
where the special screens will be installed. The city authorities are carrying
out large scale renovation works in the park which has become the main venue of
big cultural city events lately. On June 14 at 8.00 p.m. special TV marathon
dedicated to the concert will start in Scherbakov Park of Donetsk. People
living in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv and attendees of the concert
in Kyiv will join it. On-line appearances of each city will be provided during
the marathon when people living in 5 participating cities will sing one song of
the Beatles in live. We kindly invite people living in Donetsk
and the city guests to join the TV marathon and watch on-line concert in Scherbakov Recreation Park. [top]
Ukrainian Fan Club
"Beatles.UA" organized "Improvisation Concert"
On May 30 Ukrainian Fan Club "Beatles.UA" organized
"Improvisation Concert" in John Lennon's Street in Lviv launching the action
"Ukrainomania in the Beatles style".
Photos at http://www.beatles.com.ua/news_publications/actions/473.html
[top]
May 28
Odesa participating in
charity action of Paul McCartney
According to Information Department of the Odesa City
Council, on June 14 TV marathon of the cities with population of over million
people and on-line broadcasting of charity concert of legendary Paul McCartney
will take place at Primorskiy
Boulevard. Such actions will also be held in
Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
Addressing the Ukrainians Paul McCartney said: "I hope
to see all of you. So, come - it will be an unforgettable day for the whole Ukraine. Let
the rock'n'roll rhythms unite all of us", he emphasized.
Odesa venue of on-line broadcasting of the charity
concert of Paul McCartney is Primorskiy
Boulevard near Duke de Richelieu monument.
Firstly, TV marathon among the cities with population of over one million
people will be held from 8.00 to 9.00 p.m. followed by the charity concert of
the famous musician from 9.00 to 10.00 p.m. [top]
Traditional Ukrainian
embroidered shirt for McCartney
Ukrainian fan club "Beatles. UA" rallies fans from the
whole country for the concert of one of ex-members of Liverpool
quartet Paul McCartney scheduled on June 14 in Kyiv.
About 150 fans are expected to come to the capital
from Lviv. They will bring the gift for McCartney - traditional Ukrainian
embroidered shirt in black and red flowers with Ukrainian fan club logo and the
name of Paul McCartney embroidered on it. In addition, the musician will be
presented with multimedia disc carrying information about the Ukrainian fan
club.
Lviv people are preparing a number of actions to
promote the Beatles songs. For instance, on June 1 the fan club is arranging
competition of drawings "Father, mother and me are the family of the
Beatles" in Bogdan
Khmelnitskiy Park.
The same day rehearsal of the group from Beatlya village which will play two
songs of the Beatles translated into Ukrainian on June 7 in Kyiv will take place in
Turka town of Lviv Region. [top]
May 26
Voting for the songs to be
included to the concert program of Paul McCartney opened
From now onwards all the Beatles fans - Internet users
can form the concert program of Paul McCartney on June 14, 2008, in Kyiv.
On the eve of Paul McCartney's concert Ukrainian fan
clubs of the Beatles and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened a site "The
Beatles in my life" (http://beatlesinmylife.org.ua/)
- communication forum for anyone to whom the ideas and songs of the famous
Liverpool quartet are reminiscent and precious.
On May 26, 2008, voting for 10 songs to be included in
the Maydan concert program was officially opened on the site "The Beatles in my
life". The Beatles fans were offered 43 popular songs of the Beatles and Paul
McCartney. The Beatles fan clubs in Ukraine
and Russia
have echoed the initiative immediately and contributed to voting. Group of the
songs topping the chart with large margin had been shaped for the first few
hours.
Over 1 500 people contributed to voting in the first day. Voting will
last until June 6, 2008.
Site "Beatles in my life" has become the place of
various social activities for the Beatles fans both from Ukraine and the
whole world. Competition of stories "The Beatles in my life" jointly with Fakty
Newspaper and competition of translations "Singing the Beatles in the native
language" jointly with Novy Channel are held on the site. The competition
winners will get tickets for Paul McCartney's concert to the dancing pit. [top]
Novy Channel and the Victor
Pinchuk Foundation launched a competition of translations "Singing the Beatles
in the native language"
On June 14 at 9.00 p.m.
megaevent awaited by the whole country will take place in Maydan Nezalezhnosti
(Independence Square)
in Kyiv!
Legendary Beatles member Sir
Paul McCartney will present his only one concert in Ukraine at the invitation of Mr. Victor
Pinchuk.
Each of us has his personal attitude to the Beatles.
And his personal understanding. And his personal sounding. How does "The
Beatles" sound to you? Probably in Ukrainian? Or in Russian?
Novy Channel and Podyem Program are for the whole
world hearing to your Beatles! If you are ready to reveal your creation to the
world it is high time now! Download the video materials with your variant of
translation of the songs of the Beatles or Paul McCartney in Ukrainian or
Russian on the Novy Channel Internet site. So: translate, sing, film, send.
The best singers will be invited to Podyem Program and
the very best will get tickets to super-fan-zone of Paul McCartney's concert in
Kyiv. Moreover, their clip will be presented in one of Showmania programs!
Who knows, probably it will be your hand that Paul
McCartney will shake at fan zone on June 14 at the concert in Kyiv?
PS. Electronic translator offers us the following
translations of the name of Paul McCartney in Ukrainian: "Floor McCartney,
Sex McCartney" ["Pol", Russian transcription of "Paul"
has two meanings - floor and sex"]. We hope your translations will be not
less colourful. Translations with sense of humour will be considered the first.
Kapranovy brothers, Ukrainian writers and publishers, will judge the singers
and choose the winner.
Let sing the Beatles in the native language!
Besides, you can win the tickets to fan zone located
directly under the stage at Podyem Program. Starting from Tuesday, May 27,
competition will be held for all TV viewers.
Watch, call, write, come to Maydan! [top]
