The O.O.Osmerkin Memorial Art Museum presents a personal exhibition of paintings and graphic works of Taras Cherepenko, a student of the 10th grade of the municipal institution "Maximum Lyceum of the Kropyvnytskyi City Council" "ArtMix by Taras Cherepenko" as part of the art project "Gallery of Children's Art" with the assistance of the communal institution "Inclusive resource center No. 1" of Kropyvnytska city Council for World Autism Awareness Day.
    World Autism Awareness Day was established by a decision of the UN General Assembly in 2007 and is one of the seven official UN days dedicated to health. Every year on April 2, actions and flash mobs "Wear blue" and "Light up blue" are held, during which people dress in blue or illuminate iconic buildings with blue light as a sign of support for people with autism, a disorder of the nervous system that makes communication difficult. The word "autism" comes from the Greek "autos" - self, self-immersion. A person with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often avoids communication, any violation of daily routines and stereotypes is perceived as a tragedy. However, the intelligence of such people is not always reduced, so-called "islands of knowledge" are often found - spheres of activity in which a person's abilities reach a normal or even genius level. Autism is incurable, but with timely diagnosis and corrective intervention, the child can be adapted to life in adulthood.
    The initiator of the exhibition is Yuliia Malezhyk, a private teacher of fine arts, candidate of pedagogical sciences, a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and the National Union of Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine.
    Taras Cherepenko was born on January 4, 2007 in Kirovohrad (Kropivnytskyi). In 2013, he entered the 1st grade of secondary school No. 29, now he is studying in the 10th grade of the "Maximum" Lyceum of the Kropyvnytskyi City Council. Since childhood, he has been actively developing in various fields - he is fond of fine arts and music, successfully studies German and English, and enjoys attending classes in the sports section. He is the winner of various competitions and festivals of children's art, repeatedly exhibited his drawings at art exhibitions and arranged personal openings. Taras is a creative young man with a special vision of the world and his expression in his own work. His dream is to learn visual literacy in order to create his own animation in the future. According to his mother Olha: "He began to show his abilities in fine arts very early, but there was no qualified teacher nearby who, taking into account Taras's peculiarities and his unconventional thinking, would have helped in his early development in this field. Since childhood, he dreamed of creating his own cartoon series in the future, which he completely invented, created the script and drew its characters, so he tried to depict and copy the characters of his favorite cartoons, about which he knows everything. In 2020, we met Yuliia Malezhyk, an art teacher, who continues to teach Taras even now, helps in the development of his abilities and creative ideas. Yuliia Mykolaiivna found a common language with him in creativity, helped to develop, and not just copy created plots and images of characters."
    Experienced teacher and artist Yuliia Malezhyk has been working with Taras for over three years and characterizes her pupil as follows: "Taras came to me as an interested and disciplined student. I remember when he, like his favorite childhood hero SpongeBob, "absorbed" everything new - techniques, materials, techniques in drawing, he was eager for experiments, he liked everything I offered - from ordinary graphic images to work in materials : acrylic, watercolor, felt- tip pens, pastel, papier-mache, design, glass, clay, artistic firing on plywood... He was looking for himself. As a teacher, I was pleased to see his interest and effort. Considering its features, I myself was interested in working with it, it was such an experiment and something new in my pedagogical activity. I became so involved that Taras and I began not only to work on the same wavelength, but also became friends and we communicate and consult in life situations. And now, he is making progress and winning prizes in International and All-Ukrainian competitions in various types of fine arts: acrylic painting, graphics, sculpture, etc. So, in 2021, he represented the Kirovohrad region at the All-Ukrainian drawing competition "Ukraine through the eyes of children" for the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence, the purpose of which was to draw society's attention to children with autism and develop their creative abilities. A map of Ukraine was created from the 24 drawings of the winners of the competition, which included Taras's work "Watermelon and Cherries". And in 2022, he received the Grand Prix at the All-Ukrainian Creative Inclusive Festival "Inspiration without Borders" for the work "Daisies and Bells" and won 3rd place in the All- Ukrainian Art Competition "Starry Dreams of Childhood". Actively participates in the annual Leonid Bondary Art Competition "Youth Palette", initiated by the O.O.Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum, his painting "Fluffy Winter" was awarded the Diploma of the 1st degree of the competition in 2022 on the theme: "Seasons" , dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of the artist and teacher Oleksandr Osmerkin. And Taras does not stop there, in his plans to earn enough money to realize his dream of creating an animated series, to win in new contests, festivals and exhibitions, to visit the USA and an animation studio, to enroll in the faculty of animation graphics in Ukraine or abroad."
    The exposition of the exhibition "ArtMix by Taras Cherepenko" consists of more than fifty paintings and graphics of the young artist, created by him during the period of individual training in 2020-2024 under the guidance of a private teacher Yuliia Malezhyk. Colorful still lifes, characteristic portraits of friends, original drawings of patriotic themes and extremely interesting plot works with his invented heroes who travel through time and get to know the world and themselves in it.