A breakthrough which began a new exhibiting phase in the artist's biography. In 1981 an exhibition of three famous Lviv painters Oleg Minko, Zenoviy Flinta and Lyubomyr Medvid took place at the Lviv Picture Gallery. "The Exhibition of three" ("Vystavka triokh") – under this name it would enter art history – described as a bright event, "a sip of pure spring water" in the artistic environment. After the success of this exhibition (not only in Lviv, but also in Kyiv, Vilnius and Moscow) Oleg Minko, Zenoviy Flinta and Lyubomyr Medvid were awarded the rank of "Honoured Artists of Ukraine". Periods of artwork The artist's work can be divided into three phases: First period Considered by the art critics the most powerful, it spanned from 1960 to 1972. The series of abstract works under the general name "Compositions" and the series "Life of the Masks" were, even back then, an affirmation of the emergence of an original artist who tried to escape the jaws of socialism. Oleg Minko himself reckons "Compositions" and "Life of the Masks" to be the turning point to his artwork. Between 1970 and 1978, he underwent the creative crisis which he refers to as the "period of silence". Second period One of "romantic realism", when the artist, according to his own words, was relearning how to paint: he worked on a series of landscapes and portraits. Artistic images were lyrically constructed by his romantically-philosophical outlook. This phase in the artists' work has its genesis with the painting "The Daughter's Portrait" completed in 1980. This work truly ushered in the romantically-realistic period that was to last until the late 1980s. Third period A "returning to the origins" – started in the late 1980s – early 1990s, when the artist was finally able to speak out in his mature artistic style, drawing on his unique world outlook, internal experiences and visual language. In 1989 he created a powerful series in the subjective-figurative style. Such works as: "Perestoroga" (The Warning), "Staryi z palytseiu" (The Old Man with a Cane) and "Vidchay" (Despair) amongst others. Latest artwork Keeping to his individual artistic tradition, from the late 1980s and into the early 1990s he brings new elements and unique formal solutions to his works, creating an original world where his characters exist in the past, present and future simultaneously or – in parallel dimensions. The key element in Oleg Minko's art work