Mykola Shmatko

Who is Mykola Shmatko?

Mykola Havrylovych Shmatko is a contemporary Ukrainian amateur sculptor, painter. He was born in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

He became a sculptor at the age of 33, after being a firefighter. He works in marble, inspired by European culture and art. His studio and gallery contains 100 sculptures, more than 70 of which are made of Ural and Italian marble, 30 plaster casts and about 300 pictures. In total, there are approximately 750 pieces ranging from simple decoration to bas-relief, high relief, busts and sculptures. Some of these are sexually explicit in character. He is also working in archtitecture, and has a design for a penis-shaped highrise building.

In 2000 he was appointed a professor of Arts department by Moscow Institute of World Civilization.

In 2004 for his work "Sviatohorska Blessed Virgin" - statue of the Theotokos "Hegumenia" for Sviato-Uspenskyi Sviatohorskyi Monastery, he was awarded the order of Nestor Letopisets by Volodymyr Sabodan, the Kiev Metropolitan and all Ukraine.

The fall of 2012 left the city at the invitation of Lugansk oligarch Viktor Baloha and moved with his family to the city of Mukachevo.