 Gennadiy Marichev, a Ukrainian who began photography at the age of 13, has traveled far and wide to take photographs of a huge range of subjects, most with his trusty Russian camera, a Smena-2.
Born in the Donbas, Marichev has lived in Kyiv since 1968. His photographic work is of high quality, and is evocative of Ukraine, a country he says he dearly loves. His work clearly supports that statement.
Marichev says his main focus has been the Ukrainian landscape and certainly many of his scenes of the rural countryside have a beauty and romantic appeal.
Marichev works in both color and black and white and his sharp, discerning eye captures detail in the lyrical pieces he produces.
 A photo of a Ukrainian meadow with the sun embalming the fields with a golden light is reminiscent of pastoral French painters like Millet or Corot. Both painters captured a brilliance of light, tinged with serenity. That same stillness is captured in many of Marichev's works.
Marichev studied at Kyiv's Institute of Photojournalism and now works for various publications as well as creating his own personal images. He had a one-man photographic show at the Artists' House in January this year.
Marichev says his approach to his work is very traditional, particularly in his use of the camera. He uses slide film to achieve the high quality and definition of his images. He has an armory of cameras with high quality lenses to shoot his images.
Marichev's form is classical and he says he wants to become more classical in his view of the image and not go towards the modernist methods: digital images and photo manipulation programs.
Some of his most successful images are in black and white depicting people and events, for besides his love of landscape there is a strong interest in the portrait and the story behind the image. Capturing fleeting moments, glances, embraces, and unforgettable memories…the Orange Revolution, a farmer's struggle, a woman and her goose... his images have stories to tell.
The intense photographer, in his modest way, would not be photographed but said that his photographs are part of himself and it is his work he wishes represented. Marichev sells single color photographs for about $60 at the current time.
Marichev is not officially featured in the ongoing photography biennale, "Three months of Photography in Kyiv" at the Artists' House and other arts venues.
However, the biennale, running through early June, features a steady changeover of photographers and styles. Photographers from Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and France are represented in work that portrays aspects of life, people and conceptual responses as well as a variety of techniques.
Currently there are three separate exhibitions on three floors at the Artists' House. There are portraits by Algimantas Aleksandravicius, Lithuanian photographer, (third floor), Marina Matveyeva and Patricia Tokavsedeh (second floor) and Yulia Lazarevska (first floor).
Aleksandravicius's black and white portrait photographs are mysterious as well as confrontational. The people in his photographs include artists, writers and actors who stare out from smoke filled rooms. The photographer uses smoke or dry ice to soften the image and create an atmosphere. The smoked interiors of bars and cafes are an age-old stratagem used by photographers like renowned French photographer Cartier-Bresson to create ambiance.
Aleksandravicius displays a series of striking images that are part of a dialogue or story as you move from each character to the next. There is a certain intimacy that the viewer is being invited to take part in, a conversation into which you are drawn.
Marina Matveyeva and Patricia Tokavsedeh present a dual relationship of images using two or more female figures. The colorful, almost psychedelic, approach to the images are manipulated, distorted and layered in interesting ways.
Yulia Lasareska's work is concentrated on a young girl, who is both muse and spirit. The black and white photographs are cleverly composed, against graffitied backgrounds and interesting triptych presentation.
The Artists' House is located at
1/5 Artema Street, on Lvivska Square.
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