Biography and Explication of Artworks

Biography (Ostap)

Vyacheslav “Slava” Osinski was born in 1978 in the USSR (Ukraine). There he studied art and learned the techniques of drawing and linocut.
In 1993 he began to study architecture.

In 1995 Vyacheslav emigrated with his family as a quota refugee to Germany. As a result, he was forced to quit his studies.
In Germany (Lübeck), he came to a camp together with other repatriates. There he encountered aggressive rejection and was plunged into an atmosphere of hostility.

1998. Due to his poor state of health, he developed problems with hearing loss during this time that became progressively worse.

2003 Vyacheslav moved to Berlin independently.

Between 2004-2007 he studied printmaking at the vocational school for people with disabilities “BBW Potsdam”. During the apprenticeship he worked in an offset printing company, then two years in a design studio as an advertising manufacturer. Alongside this, he painted continuously. Due to his hearing loss, he was forced to stop working in the production factory and in the team.

In 2009 he registered as an individual entrepreneur.

In 2010 he met the German minimalist Stefan Müller in Berlin. Soon this acquaintance transformed into a friendship. Vyacheslav began to deal with the problems of contemporary art.

In 2011 he started his own creative path.

Since 2011 he has been active as a street artist and defines his credo as a self-taught adventurer, who opens up new possibilities and visual techniques. Vyacheslav’s first stencil pieces on Berlin streets appeared under the pseudonym “Ostap” (Ostapchenko).

2013 Ostap became a resident at the Urban Spree Gallery (Berlin) and got his first studio. In the following two years, he was able to realize his ideas there. During this time, Ostap produced several series in the urban space:
“Spree Can”, 2013-2018; “Spreeywald Underground”, 2013-2018; “Welcome”, 2014,
“FAQlove”, 2013-2015; “Indulgence (Icon 2.0)” 2013-2014.

2015. In order to be able to participate in legal projects, the artist invented a new “brand”: The Selfmadecrew. Over the next three years, he and his new crew took part in several exhibitions and commissioned projects.

A short explanation of the works (Explication)

2010 Inspired by the minimalist works of his friend Stefan Müller, an object emerges from two stretcher bars connected like chain stretcher frames.

In 2011 he starts working with colored duct tape according to the motto: “adhesive tape instead of paint.”

In 2012 he creates his first parametric adhesive tape constructs with light and shadow effects.

In 2013 Ostap discovers the use of the stencil principle to produce “stained glass window” art from packaging tape on glass or lightboxes.

He continues his spatial experiments with adhesive tape.

2015. When experimenting with adhesive tape and the working principle of a monochrome screen, he opens up new optical effects.

Ostap prefers the stencil technique because, as an ancestor of printing, it is one of the oldest methods of image transmission and reflects the international language of pop culture. In an urban environment, this fast and reusable method of image transmission resembles a magical, ritual action.

Like many of his artist colleagues, he plays with the cult symbols and characters of pop cultures: East-West; Male-Female; Cucumber-Banana (Andy Warhol); Cheburashka — Mickey Mouse, Rat…

Ostap’s artistic strategy is to archive his stencil graffiti by creating unique prints on canvas.

Ostap takes up the themes of the modern media landscape through his rather simple but concise motifs: Politics, religion, love, globalization, sexual and urban culture, and employs them with cynical humor, in a direct and provocative way. The artist also makes sure that his works are somewhat ambiguous in meaning. Often Ostap’s figurative art evokes feelings in the viewer, both positive and amusing, stimulating, agreeing, and on the contrary, rejecting the artist’s personal, subjective views on life. Is he a cynic, romantic or critic? Ostap leaves this decision to the viewer.

Ostap often combines different techniques and works with unconventional materials. He always tries to create something new, like for example his works with optical effects, which were created by using raster-nets or fluorescent and UV inks.

Through the use of dotted nets as stencils and his examination of the perception of the dot pattern with the eye, a series of optical illusions are created on the canvas.

In regards to art history, Ostap is interested in artists such as Van Gogh, Klimt, Warhol, and Banksy: these artists have become myths whose names began to work independently and set a new way for future art. His artistic method is the upcycling of modern and classical representations and interpretations.

Starting in 2018, Ostap creates a series of bas-relief self-portraits on the streets made of duct and gaffer tape. He uses the technique of domestic, misappropriated use of the material.

Ostap currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Berlin and continues to be active on the street, while also working with museums, and participates in artistic, social, and commercial projects. He interacts with clients in a new context.