Mikhail Reva (, ; March 13, 1960) is a Ukrainian artist, sculptor, architect, jewelry craftsman, a founder of a non-profit organisation — REVA Foundation, a co-founder of a charitable organisation " Buduschee" ('The Future'), the Rehabilitation center for children named after Boris Litvak.
Biography
Mikhail Reva was born on March 13, 1960, in Kerch (Crimea). In 1966 he moved with his parents to Odesa (Ukraine). After high school, he entered Odesa Higher Engineering Marine School and graduated in 1977. Then he served in the army (1980-1982). On his return to Odesa, he worked in the sculpture art fund, where he met his future wife Tatyana Kushniruk. At the age of 25, Mikhail entered the Higher School of Art and Design named after V. Mukhina, St. Petersburg. His academic tutors were Lyudmila Pavlovna Kalugina, Anatoly Gordeevich Dyoma (sculpture), Peter Izrailevich Puko (painting), Igor Pavlovich Shmelev (architecture and design).
Michail Reva :"It was a happy time. The floodgate of information just started to open, and we were overwhelmed with a desire of creating our new "concord of the day", a new world. We were sitting till dawn talking about art, our souls were glowing in a sincere impulse. What a powerful aspiration it was - to work, to dream, to create...Today I remember that time as a time of hope, a time of discovery, of such an amazing thirst, that much as we reveled in art and in freedom, it was never enough. Five years of my student life passed in a blink of an eye. Trying to reminisce that time in detail, I recall all my Institute works. And everything else is remembered as one huge continuous cognitive moment. A moment, in which the entire Universe fell upon me!"
Michail Reva was graduated with summa cum laude in the field of architectural and decorative plastics in 1990. The Academy of Arts awarded him a scholarship and sent to Rome (Italy) to Villa Abamelec. On completion of his internship, he returned to Odesa. The fateful acquaintance with Ernst Neizvestny during the work of the monument "The Golden Child" (Mikhail made bas-reliefs "Four Sides of the World").
Mikhail was the creator of the "Angel of Grace" for the children's rehabilitation center "Future", founder of this unique complex was the famous Odesa activist Boris Davidovich Litvak. "Do not refuse good deeds when your hand is able to do it" written on the bay window, under the gold angel.
The works of Michael Reva have a diverse nature and are presented in many central locations of Odesa, Ukraine. His art-objects have become a landmark of the city — a monument dedicated to I. Ilf and E. Petrov "The Twelfth Chair", "Love Tree", the fountain "Source of Life" next to Vorontsov Palace, art object "Odesa's Time" and many other works.