Oleh Ataiants

Oleh Ataiants (Ukrainian: Олег Євгенович Атаянц; January 4, 1978, Odesa, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian cultural activist, philanthropist, businessman. He is the founder of the multimedia gallery Ataiants Gallery, the creator of the art installation in Kyiv Fuck gas weapon, which was the artist's response to Russia's gas blackmail.

Biography Oleh Ataiants was born on January 4, 1978, in Odesa.

In 2008, he graduated from the State University of Chemical Technology (Dnipro) with a degree in Manager-Economist.

Ataiants Gallery In 2017, Oleh Ataiants founded Ataiants Gallery. It is a modern multimedia gallery with a closed showroom in Kyiv. It presents works by contemporary Ukrainian and foreign artists. This is the world's first international art residency, which took place from October 24 to 27, 2019. The artists went directly to the Chernobyl exclusion zone and created their works there. Their works were presented at an exhibition at the Museum of Kyiv History.

A number of well-known artists and photographers participated in the project: Illya Chichkan, Masha Shubina, Ksenia Oksyn, Yulia Kysil, Olga Drozd, Olga Vysotska, Stan Kvitko, Dmytro Motuzko, Oleksiy Burda, Anna Luhovska, Arazyan Bagrat (Armenia), Peter Lagler (Austria), Katerina Burlina (Slovenia), Edik Belsky (Slovenia), Paride Di Stefano (Italy), Serhiy Savchenko (Poland), Mike Renard (USA), and Oleh Ataiants himself.

Fuck gas weapon In 2023, the National Hotel in Kyiv hosted the opening of Oleh Ataiants' installation Fuck gas weapon, an artist's response to Russia's gas blackmail. The installation consists of twisted gas pipes that form a clear figure with a "middle finger".

The pipes are painted in national colors – yellow on the outside and blue on the inside – to emphasize national identity. With his work, Oleh Ataiants wanted to show that Russia's gas blackmail will not work, and to convince the people of Europe, who are worried about expensive gas, that Ukraine, where people are dying because of the war, has much bigger problems.