Born October 27 in the village of Yaniv (now Ivano-Frankove) in the Lviv region.
1955–1958Studied at the painting department of the Lviv School of Applied Arts named after I. Trush, where he met Karlo Zvirynskyi.
1958–1964Graduated from the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts at the Faculty of Monumental and Decorative Painting. Teachers: R. Selskyi, V. Manastyrskyi, D. Dovboshynskyi, K. Zvirynskyi.
At the same time he attends the underground academy of Karlo Zvirynskyi. The works of this period are a kind of methodical exercises for mastering various areas of the historical avant-garde: analytical cubism, futurism, and geometric abstraction.
Since 1964 he worked at the monumental workshop of the Lviv Art and Production Plant.
On the wave of general interest in the Lviv artistic environment in printmaking, in particular in linocut, he was one of the first to make a number of bookplates, in which he talentedly used the expressive possibilities of the laconic language of linocut.
Late 1960s — mid-1970sThe so-called period of hermetic art in the creative work of Soika. The artist is actively studying Eastern spiritual practices and esoteric works. This was embodied in a series of graphic “meditative landscapes” for apartment exhibitions.
Mid-1970s — 1990sHe works a lot in the field of monumental art: creates dozens of compositions for public buildings in Lviv and the region in the techniques of mosaic, sgraffito and painting.
Late 1990s — 2000sSince 1998 he devoted himself to pedagogical work, teaching academic disciplines at the Art Vocational School No. 14 of his native village of Ivano-Frankove. Collaborates as a graphic illustrator with the Lviv religious publishing house “Good Book” (“Dobra Knyzhka”).
2010sThe artist spent the last years of his life among private students, continuing the idea of the underground academy of Karlo Zvirynskyi. He taught teenagers literacy, playing musical instruments, and discussed history, philosophy, and religion with them.
2018Dies on May 26 in the midst of preparations for the anniversary exhibition of his works, which eventually took place posthumously.
Bohdan Soika was an outsider in normative culture and an opponent of mass tastes, aiming for a true reflection on reality.
