New Antonov AN-225 painting
Ukrainian Refugees Charity auction
We have just finished an ebay auction for this new symbolic painting depicting the unique Antonov AN-225 over Kyiv. As many of you will know, this iconic aircraft was destroyed during the Russian invasion a couple of weeks ago, so this symbolic painting called 'Dreams Never Die' looks to a hopeful future where the city and aircraft might rise again to meet clearer and friendlier skies in the west.
ALL proceeds of the auction to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund here in Poland.
UPDATE!
Thanks to everyone who bid on this painting, the winning bid was £2200 (approx 12,000PLN) from James in Canada, thanks James! Ebay should release the money in early April so we'll post details of where it goes then.
Dreams Never Die
The story behind the painting.
"I guess the story behind this painting started a couple of years ago when I bought a plastic model kit of the Antonov 225 for my (then) 13year old son Szymek. He dreamed of being a commercial pilot so I knew he’d enjoy making it, even though we’re both terrible modellers!
Once complete, Szymek experimented with some stop motion animation of the model, trying to bring it to life somehow. After a few months, he really got the hang of it and started to post his films on YouTube. These little films were an instant hit, (with over 10m views), so he made several more with other aircraft models, but at the same time developed the AN-225 as his central ‘hero’ character in many of the films, such as ‘The Santonov’, where the AN-225 saves Santa in mid-air(!)
We both grew very fond of our battered model and I promised Szymek that one day I’d take him to see the real thing as we’re based in Wroclaw, Poland and it occasionally came into Warsaw and Leipzig, both within reach of us.
Then, two weeks ago, everything changed. Rumours circulated that the AN-225 had been destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At first it appeared that the aircraft had escaped to a safe country, but then eventually photos appeared showing this unique, one-off, aircraft completely destroyed in its hangar.
I could see that Szymek was deeply upset by this, he was already having a hard enough time understanding how war could possibly be happening in our neighbouring country, so I decided to paint the aircraft for him, in the hope that one day it might be rebuilt and we would fulfil our dream of seeing it in person.
As I worked on the canvas, I watched the harrowing images coming out of Ukraine, of fathers weeping over the bodies of their lifeless teenage sons, of child refugees flooding into our cities and homes here in Poland,and I just thought that this painting should be for them.
And so, my original painting ‘Dreams Never Die’ is now up for auction on ebay and whatever we raise will be given to the Ukrainian Refugee fund here in Poland.
It won’t change this terrible situation, but if it helps provide shelter and comfort for even just one family then it will have been worthwhile."
