Who am I? An artist, an icon painter, a jeweler, a photographer, a contemplator of beauty or a co-creator to the Creator?
As a child, my father took me with him to the development room with a dim red light, and I watched the mystery when the invisible became apparent and turned into a story. This extraordinary transition has accompanied me all my life. When I learned oil painting, egg tempera or melted metal, the memory of analog photography appeared in me. On the day when I turned 50, the war began, and I was again, as in childhood, in a dark room. Tape. Development. Print. Native smell. A new story is born through the red light, giving hope and leading to peace and love.
Always with love to you, priest, eternal punk, Abbot Aurora.
AVRORA – is the creative pseudonym of Sergey Pavelko, under which he works. The photographer is originally from Ukraine and creates mesmerizing pictures with his wonderful analog photography.
In addition to photography, Serhii Pavelko works as a prison priest, icon painter, artist, and jeweler. He works in the techniques of painting, icon painting, and applied art: stone processing, hot enamel, and artistic metal processing. For more than 20 years, he has been active in public activities – spiritual, psychological, and humanitarian support of persons who are in prisons in Ukraine. In his creative projects, he focuses the audience’s attention on social and spiritual problems that exist in modern society.
Born in 1972, Kherson, Ukraine.
In 1993 he was ordained a priest. Since 1997 he has been working with people in prisons.
In 2004 he founded the icon-painting workshop “Heaven on Earth”. Sergey says about his artistic vocation: “My teachers have always been faith in God, a warm heart, and rock and roll. I have always trusted my intuition and never tried to live up to anyone’s expectations. I do my work sincerely and honestly, and therefore I am happy.”
Since 2005 Sergey has held more than 60 solo exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad.
In 2014, Sergey was awarded the Franz Bierbaum Order by the Faberge Memorial Foundation.
In connection with the military aggression of Russia in Ukraine in February 2022, Sergey moved from Kyiv to Austria.
AVRORA – photographer
Avrora passion for the art form resonates in each frame he captures on his cherished, aged cameras. The devotion to the craft transcends mere documentation; it’s an intimate artistic expression.
With an unwavering love for photographic film, Avrora meticulously develops her captures, infusing each piece with life and soul. This process culminates in the tactile beauty of his prints on expired photo paper. Through her lens, Avrora bestows the mundane with ethereal charm, a dance of light and emotion that unveils the world’s innermost beauty.
His commitment goes beyond aesthetics, becoming an artful act of resistance in a world embroiled in conflict. Avrora’s photography isn’t just an artistic endeavor; it’s a beacon of hope, a testament to the triumph of beauty and love over adversity. As war shadows his homeland, his work stands as a testament to the power of art to uplift and heal.
Avrora’s talents have earned his exhibitions on international stages, including captivating displays in Austria. With every image he creates, he immerses herself in the process, invoking the feeling of welcoming a new life into the world. In an era of digital fervor, Avrora’s reverence for analog photography becomes a revival of the tactile, the timeless, and the enchanting.
Exhibition photos:
2022 – “Icons – a hopeful glimpse of heaven” Wiener Gasse 29 Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
2023 – An evening commemorating the anniversary of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. art P.art club. Paul Katzbergerplatz.5, Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
2023- “Follow the Light” art P.art club. Paul Katzbergerplatz.5, Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
HEAVEN ON EARTH
Family icon painting workshop
https://ikona.ua
Founded by Sergey Pavelko in 2004.
Its ideological core was, and remains to this day, living creativity in God. The works are created according to the ancient technologies of icon painting using the egg tempera technique – paints are created by craftsmen manually on the basis of pigments and minerals. But the main task is to find new forms of presentation of divine images and reflections on them. Existing, at first glance, strict rules (canons) are not restrictions at all. They only inspire new solutions to artistic and spiritual problems.
Possessing skills in the field of jewelry techniques, Sergey applied them in the creation of icons. These works are created using the hot enamel technique – an image is applied to copper plates and baked at a temperature of 850 °. These icons, with their archaic forms, only emphasize the main essence and idea of icon painting – art led by the Creator. After all, the final result of these is impossible to predict and the feeling that everything is in the hands of God cannot but delight.
AVRORA
creative pseudonym of Sergey Pavelko, under which he creates paintings
https://www.saatchiart.com/avrora72
“Under this pseudonym I draw, I illustrate everything that I could never convey in any other form. I do not set a goal to conquer the viewer with something new.
I live in my world and invite you to this world. I invite you into my world with great enthusiasm, but I invite you to look at it with your own eyes and try to experience for yourself what I am experiencing.
I am often asked about the source of my inspiration. Where do I get it? Inspiration is always with me, it is around me and inside me, it fills and overflows me. Next to me are my children, my family, my friends, the whole world. And even in the stone and cold walls of the prison where I serve as a priest, there is inspiration! Inspiration at sea, which I constantly strive for, in Vienna, the city that has become my second home. Inspiration is everywhere. This is a gift from God!
I am heartily grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to show you my world. There is light and love in it.”
Collections of NFT tokens
based on the work of Avrora and “Heaven on Earth”
Founded by Sergey Pavelko in 2004.
New technologies undoubtedly make the world more comfortable and convenient. But are they able to make it more humane and kind? This question is convincingly answered by the new NFT collection, created in collaboration with DCM Swiss and a Kyiv artist and priest who creates even during the war. NFT is a kind of unique marker for any object of digital creativity: paintings, musical compositions, articles… This technology not only helps to protect copyrights in the digital world, but also gives the creations of artists the very features of uniqueness and originality that are so valuable in the “analog” works of art. Not surprisingly, more and more artists are working with NFT and digitizing their work.
Sergey Pavelko says: “NFT is an amazing creation in the world of contemporary art. Many cannot answer whether they have fully understood the essence of the digital art of NFT. What is it – another soap bubble or an open door to a new era of world culture? It is interesting to think about this, to explore your own reactions and vibrations of the soul. Either way, it’s quite an exciting process. Time will put everything in its place.”
https://www.facebook.com/Nebonazemlihttps://
www.saatchiart.com/nebo-na-zemle
https://www.saatchiart.com/avrora72
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/malyavagame/malyava-break-free-from-prison
https://nft-sponsorship.dcm-swiss.com/events/avrora?referral_code=AVR
https://nft-sponsorship.dcm-swiss.com/events/heaven-on-the-earth?referral_code=HOE
2005 – Business Center “Olexandrivskyi”, Mykolaiv.
2006 – group exhibition “Days of Saint Nicholas”. Exhibition Hall of the City Center of Culture and Leisure, Mykolayiv.
2007 – “Yes, all will be one”. Joint exhibition with Ivanka Krypyakevich-Dymyd. Lviv National Museum named after A. Sheptytskoho, Lviv
2008 – personal exhibition of the icon painting workshop “Heaven on Earth”. Museum of Ivan Honchar, Kyiv
2009 – “The future in the present”. Museum of Ivan Honchar, Kyiv
2009 – “Cover about Kinbourn”. Pokrovka, Mykolayiv region
2009 – “The future in the present”. Literary Museum, Odessa
2009 – “Merciful Mother”. Church of Klymenty Sheptytskyi, Lviv
2009 – group exhibition. Festival of Modern Sacred Art. Sofia Kyivska National Nature Reserve, Kyiv
2009 – “Here I create everything new”. Sofia Kyivska National Nature Reserve, Kyiv
2010 – “PER ASPERA AD ASTRUM”. Museum of Ivan Honchar, Kyiv
2010 – “Cover about Kinbourn”. Pokrovka, Mykolayiv region
2010 – “Children and the Icon” Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv
2010 – group exhibition. “Ukrainian Souvenir-2010” National Center for Business and Cultural Cooperation “Ukrainian House”, Kyiv
2011 – “Light in the Darkness”. Sacred Art Gallery “ICONART”, Lviv
2011 – “The gospel is the way to God”. Museum of Ivan Honchar, Kyiv
2011 – “Merciful Mother”. National Cultural Center of Ukraine, Moscow
2011 – “The gospel is the way to God”. St. Kateryny Evangelical Lutheran Parish, Kyiv.
2011 – Airplane Gallery “Heaven on Earth”, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012 – “Meeting” of the Mykolaiv Art Gallery of ChSU named after Peter Mohyla
2012 – Regional Art Museum “Triumph of Orthodoxy” named after Shovkunenko, Kherson
2012 – Aircraft gallery “Vision”, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012 – “Kinburn Spit under God’s Protection” Pokrovka, Mykolayiv region
2012 – Participation in the exhibition “Handkerchiefs in Ukrainian folk culture” (funded by the Ivan Honchar Museum and private collections) in Kyiv
2013 – “Glory to God in the highest”, Russian Scientific and Cultural Center, Prague, Czech Republic
2013 – “God save Ukraine”, Taras Shevchenko National Museum, Kyiv
2013 – “Light in the Darkness” Schliersee, Germany.
2013 – “Red Easter” Mykolaiv Art Gallery of ChSU named after Peter Mohyla
2013 – “Mother of Mercy” Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University
2013 – Center of Ukrainian Culture and Arts “Eternal Symbols”, Kyiv
2013 – “Glory to God in the highest.” Museum of Ivan Honchar, Kyiv
2014 – “Bright Path” Taras Shevchenko National Museum, Kyiv
2014 – “Let’s cheer together now” Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University
2014 – Family Icon Painting Workshop “Heaven on Earth” Exhibition of icons within the framework of the annual exhibition project “Solar Easter at the Center of Ukrainian Culture and Art
2014 – Icon painting workshop “Heaven on Earth” at the Kyiv Law University of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv
2014 – National Architectural and Historical Reserve “Easter Joy” “Old Chernihiv”, Chernihiv
2014 – Exhibition Hall “Summer of God” of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Kherson
2014 – “Pokrov” “Ivan Honkhar Museum”, Kyiv
2015 – “Here I create everything new”, Center of Ukrainian Culture and Arts, Kyiv
2015 – “Light of the Son of God” Gallery of Contemporary Art JUMP, Poltava
2015 – “Christ is born, blessed!” Spiritual and cultural center named after Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky Cathedral of the Holy Ascension, Poltava
2015 – “Let every breath praise the Lord” of the Yosaphat Kobrynsky National Museum of Folk Art of the Hutsul Region and Pokuttia, Kolomyia
2015 – “Come and See the Invisible” Gallery of Contemporary Art JUMP, Poltava
2016 – “BEGINNING””Ivan Honchar Museum”, Kyiv
2016 – “Street Meetings” Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Folk Life, Uzhhorod
2016 – “Journey to the Light” Yaremche Museum of Ethnography and Ecology of the Carpathian Region, Yaremche
2017 – Kyiv National University “Merciful Mother” named after Taras Shevchenko
2018 – “Icon as Art” Lesya Ukrainka Museum, Kyiv
2018 – “I was in prison…” Center of Ukrainian Culture and Arts, Kyiv
2019 – “Icon as Art” Lesya Ukrainka Museum, Kyiv
2019 – “The Power of Love” Gallery House of Encounters, Eisenstadt, Austria
2019 – “Face to Miracles” Center for Ukrainian Culture and Arts, Kyiv
2020 – H-Club “Gold on Blue or Icons Born of Flame”Lesnyky, Kyiv region
2021 – H-Club “Christmas Angels” Lesnyky, Kyiv region
2022 – “Icons – a hopeful glimpse of heaven” Wiener Gasse 29 Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
2023 – An evening commemorating the anniversary of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. art P.art club. Paul Katzbergerplatz.5, Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
2023- “Follow the Light” art P.art club. Paul Katzbergerplatz.5, Perchtoldsdorf Austria.
CATALOGUES:
2007 – “Yes, everyone will be united” Polygraphic Center, Lviv Polytechnic Publishing House, Lviv
2009 – “Heaven on Earth” Kyiv
2011 – “Heaven on Earth” Slovakia, Bratislava
2012 – “Insight” Slovakia, Bratislava
Who am I? An artist, an icon painter, a jeweler, a photographer, a contemplator of beauty or a co-creator to the Creator?
As a child, my father took me with him to the development room with a dim red light, and I watched the mystery when the invisible became apparent and turned into a story. This extraordinary transition has accompanied me all my life. When I learned oil painting, egg tempera or melted metal, the memory of analog photography appeared in me. On the day when I turned 50, the war began, and I was again, as in childhood, in a dark room. Tape. Development. Print. Native smell. A new story is born through the red light, giving hope and leading to peace and love.
Always with love to you, priest, eternal punk, Abbot Aurora.
