The exhibition of works of Kirovograd artists - contenders for joining the National union of artists of Ukraine is presented in A.A.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum.
   Kirovograd regional organization the National union of artists of Ukraine was established in 1989. Current members of the organization are 33 artists of different specialty and creative trends, among them are People's Painter of Ukraine Mykhaylo Nadezhdin, Honoured Painters of Ukraine Nataliya Fedorenko and Sergiy Shapovalov, Honoured Art Worker of Ukraine Leonid Bondarenko and Vasyl Ostapenko.
   Each of Kirovograd artists is a unique, original individuality in modern Ukrainian art. Owing to active participation in All-Ukrainian and international exhibitions they are known both in Ukraine and abroad.
   Many artists are prize-winners of regional art awards - Alexander Osmerkin Award in fine arts and study of art; Award in the sphere of architecture, heraldy and veksilology and decorative and applied art named after Jakov Pauchenko.
   Kirovograd regional organization the National Union of Artists of Ukraine actively promotes fine arts by organizing personal and collective art exhibitions. The exhibition "Steppe colours" was successfully presented in 2010 in the House of Artists of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine in Kiev; it was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Kirovograd organization NUAU creation.
   Unfortunately, there was no replenishment of Kirovograd organization NUAU for some years due to many reasons. Now, according to the Regulations about the admittance procedure to the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, five contenders are picked up: well-known Kirovograd artists sculptor Viktor Frenchko and painter Anatoliy Shapovalov, young, but no less famous, artists Anatoliy Kimnatniy and Andriy Kadygrob, who, by the way, are the laureates of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Award for contribution of youth in the country development in nomination "for creative achievements", and also a master of decorative needlework, painter Olga Kolomiyets.
   All the artists-contenders are participants of numerous regional, All-Ukrainian art exhibitions and different art events; all of them have repeatedly presented their art works in Regional Art Museum and A.A.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum. In 2009 Viktor Frenchko became a laureate of Regional Alexander Osmerkin Award in fine arts and study of art in nomination "national tradition", his art works - the monument of Nadiya Tarkovska, wife of prominent dramatist I.K. Karpenko-Karyj, in homestead "Nadiya", bust of the poet and fighter for the independence of Ukraine Yevhen Malanyuk in Novoarhangelsk, memorial plaques of Marko Kropivnitskiy, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Valeriy Goncharenko, Valeriy Deynekin, Borys Vintenko, Alexander Pashutin and others.
   In 2007 Olga Kolomiyets' studio took part in All-Ukrainian cultural and artistic event "Towel of national unity". Anatoliy Kimnatniy is known as an active participant of All-Ukrainian artistic youth plein-airs; his series of works dedicated to the World AIDS Day leaves nobody indifferent to this topical problem. The painters Anatoliy Shapovalov and Adriy Kadygrob create in traditional classic fine arts genres - landscape, still life, genre painting in which they have achieved a high level of mastery.