Radiant renaissance-style paintings and cool, white sculptures balance out the latest art exhibit by the Ukrainian arts organization Rukh Art Hub, showing at the Mriya Gallery through September 22.
The exhibit features the work of two prominent Ukrainian artists, Tata Kolesnik, who has 27 paintings on display, and Tetiana Albitska-Kostomorova, who has 6 sculptures in the exhibition. Over 100 people attended the exhibit’s opening reception on September 12.
The exhibit is part of an ongoing collaboration between Rukh Art Hub and Mriya Gallery, “the first Ukrainian art gallery in New York City,” as stated on its website. Together they have produced several exhibits over the past year featuring the works of established and emerging contemporary Ukrainian artists.
With the goal of creating “a vibrant and dynamic exhibit that bridges Ukrainian and New York communities,” as stated in the press release, “Golden Shadows” celebrates and explores both inner lives and the “collective soul of humanity.” Female images are a central theme, representing women who are “courageous, wholesome and strong,” the press release says.
For Ms. Kolesnik and Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova, both of whom are Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine and who are now living in Germany, the chance to exhibit their works in the city struck them as a fantastical notion. Neither has ever been to New York.
“Growing up in Ukraine, the words ‘New York’ always seemed unreal to me, like a fantasy destination,” Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova said through a translator during a Zoom interview. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to have my works exhibited in New York now, especially while I’m in another part of the world.”
Ms. Kolesnik said she is pleased with all of the positive feedback her work is getting from the exhibit, and amused by the idea that her paintings are now living a new global and glamorous life without her.
“That’s the power of art,” Ms. Kolesnik said. “Our artworks are free and boundless, and living more interesting lives than we are.”
Indeed, Ms. Kolesnik’s paintings in the exhibit appear boundless, transporting the viewer to realms beyond the mundane. In a color palette spanning earth tones of olive, auburn, peach and charcoal, to bolder tones of cobalt, orange and rose, with shades of gold that shimmer in the light, the lush and vivid artworks depict realistic imagery and religious iconography infused with “the metaphorical sensitivity of the Renaissance,” according to the press release.
The painting “Connection” by Tata Kolesnik is one of 27 of Ms. Kolesnik’s works featured in the exhibit “Golden Shadows” by Rukh Art Hub at the Mriya Gallery.
Ms. Kolesnik’s work is inspired by classical myths, renaissance art, universal archetypes and personal experiences. She has honed a unique style that blends elements of modern and classical, spiritual and earthly. The figures in her paintings exude a refined sensuality of expression, and a kind of muted eroticism revealed in flashes of skin showing among the heavy drapery of their clothing and prominent headwraps, and in gentle touch.
Fruit, flowers, tattoos, armor and piercings are frequent motifs, with motherland details woven into the works, such as sunflowers, the Ukrainian Coat of Arms, or blue and yellow ribbons signifying the colors of the Ukrainian flag braided into a woman’s hair. Playful nods to modernity pop up with figures wearing AirPods, safety pins being used as eyebrow piercings or bubbles being blown with pink chewing gum.
Some of Ms. Kolesnik’s paintings directly address the trauma of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. The painting “Connection,” which she created in the spring of 2022 shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, shows two women sitting together, one wearing a dress and the other wearing military clothing.
“There are now two realities of destruction and more peaceful life in Ukraine,” Ms. Kolesnik explained. “It’s the feeling of being in the war and not in the war at the same time. There’s unity and duality and contrast in the experiences of those who go to fight for our country, and those who stay at home to raise our children and protect our normal way of life.”
Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova’s whimsical white poly stone sculptures are displayed at intervals around the gallery, adding dimension and nuance to the exhibit, a white glow reflecting and permeating all the gold. The sculptures, smooth and fluid, are of voluptuous female figures who frolic and lounge blissfully, celebrating “physical life in all its manifestations,” as stated in the press release.
Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova, who also shares her sculptures with the visually impaired and has works displayed in galleries and museums across Europe and the U.S., welcomes viewers to touch the sculptures for a deeper level of sensual engagement.
“When you touch the sculptures and feel the lines and curves, it offers another feeling, another vision,” Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova said.
Acknowledging that it’s been difficult to start new artworks with the ongoing war in Ukraine, Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova said she currently has some sketches for her next series, “Motherhood,” which will explore women’s roles during a time of war, as they nurture and support their families.
While Ms. Kolesnik and Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova have known each other for years through the art scene in their native city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, this is their first exhibition together.
Dinara KhairovaVisitors view portions of the “Golden Shadows” art exhibit organized by Rukh Art Hub at New York’s Mriya Gallery on September 12.
Ms. Albitska-Kostomorova said that through the process of participating in the exhibit she has seen the incredible work done by the Rukh Art Hub team in helping to bring Ukrainian art to the U.S. and global audiences.
Rukh Art Hub co-founders Mariia Manuilenko and Olga Severina, who prior to their collaboration with Mriya Gallery organized a dozen Ukrainian art exhibitions in cities across the U.S., expressed gratitude for their new opportunities to share the work of Ukrainian artists with the world.
“That’s what we love about New York; it’s about the connections you can make, and the speed at which you can make them,” Ms. Severina said. “New York helps you move faster towards your goals.”
As the Ukrainian word “rukh” means movement, movement is of course a key feature of the Rukh Art Hub mission.
“We are always moving forward, creating new experiences and exhibits every time,” Ms. Severina said.
Ms. Severina explained that through their growing art world connections in New York they’ve been able to have the works of Ukrainian artists added to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library. Potential collaborations with the Whitney Museum and the Brooklyn Museum lie ahead.
Ms. Manuilenko noted that, as a curator in her native city of Kharkiv before the war, it was challenging to find gallery space for local artists to exhibit even just a few hours away in Kyiv. Now, however, they are able to exhibit frequently in New York City, one of the largest and most competitive art markets on the planet.
Over a recent period of 10 days, the teams from Rukh Art Hub and Mriya Gallery had two additional exhibits, a fundraising gala event in the Hamptons in which they raised $32,000 to help support Ukrainian children affected by the war, and the Volta New York Art Fair.
Up next is their exhibit titled “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” that opens on October 19, and a collaboration with The Ukrainian Museum for Community Activation, a day of art, music and community activities that runs from noon to 5 p.m. on October 5 at 222 East 6th street in New York’s historic Ukrainian Village district.
In the meantime, they are welcoming visitors to come enjoy the art of “Golden Shadows.”
Ms. Kolesnik and Ms. Severina described how viewers of the artworks become key collaborators with the artists in a sense, adding layers of meaning and deepening the atworks’ significance as viewers bring their own experiences, interpretations and perceptions to the paintings and sculptures.
“It’s wonderful to hear about people’s personal experience with the paintings,” Ms. Kolesnik said. “Arousing personal stories and feelings of wonder and tenderness and compassion in viewers is part of our artistic joy and what the art is made for.”
Source: The Ukrainian Weely
