10 UKRAINIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

10 UKRAINIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

There are many talented Ukrainian artists. Today we will outline 10 prominent contemporary painters.

  • Євгенія Гапчинська Eugenia Gapchinska

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Breakfast on Pluto

The moment one sees this artist’s creations, a smile spreads across their face because they are so life-affirming and positive. These paintings often depict cheerful moments of childhood and family life. 

Eugenia Gapchinska was born in Kharkiv; she studied both there and in Nuremberg, Germany. 

A child’s innocent perceptions are reflected in the variety of works painted by Gapchinska. 

She is best known for her personal brand of happiness. She is also the owner of several galleries that bear this name.

Gapchinskaya’s style was influenced by 17th- and 18th-century Dutch and Flemish art.

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Our assistant angel

  • Матвій Вайсберг Matvei Vaisberg

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The lamentation over the dead Christ. Studium to Sandro Botticelli. From the “Travel Diary” series. 2022

Matvei Vaisberg is a painter, graphic artist, and book designer based in Kyiv (Ukraine).

He obtained an education at the Ukrainian Academy of Printing. His style is influenced by the French painters Georges Rouault and Chaïm Soutin. 

Matvei Vaisberg describes his work as avant-garde art. Among the topics he depicts are historical scenes, characters, and symbols. His portfolio also includes religious-related themes and works devoted to Ukraine.  

Vaisberg illustrated the books by Sholem Aleichem, Eduard Bagritsky, Isaac Babel, and others.

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Nika Samothrakiyska. From the “Thin Red Line” series. 2022

  • Гудима Олеся Olesya Hudyma

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Kingdom 2021

Olesya Hudyma is a modern painter who was born in Ternopil (Ukraine) and lived there, but after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, she moved to Italy. 

She studied journalism at Lviv National University.

Hudyma’s works are characterized by an emotionally evocative style with an effective canvas texture. She combines different painting styles, such as abstract art, expressionism, symbolism, magic realism, and contemporary postmodernism. 

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Bride. The painting that became a stamp in 2018

  • Іван Марчук Ivan Marchuk

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Golden Night. 1981

Ivan Marchuk was listed among the 100 top living geniuses. 

He lived and worked in Ukraine, but in 1989, he left the USSR and lived in the USA, Canada, and Australia. In 2001, Marchuk returned to Ukraine.

He invented a unique way of painting his pictures, which he calls “dabbing on,” thus creating an unusual effect of luminescence in his works. 

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Winter. Road to the house. 2011

  • Катерина Омельчук Katerina Omelchuk

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Inform. From DNA series. 2010

Katerina Omelchuk was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

Omelchuk paints landscapes, still life, and portraits, as well as in the style of figurative symbolism.

She has had more than 90 group and solo exhibitions. 

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Homeward Bound. From The Carpathians series.  2005

  • Петро Бевза Petro Bevza

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The dance, 2018

Petro Bevza is a painter from Kyiv. In 1985, he graduated from the Kyiv National Art Museum. Bereza’s works are done in the styles of post-avant-garde and neo-expressionism. 

His works have been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, including in North America, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Bevza points out his main idea that “art is a transition between the environment and our way of living within it”.

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Opportunities and challenges. 2020

  • Алефтина Кахнідзе Alevtina Kakhidze

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06.03.2022. From the diary

Alevtina Kakhidze was born in the Donbas region (Eastern Ukraine). Currently, her native city is occupied. Kakhidze is based in Muzychi (a village near Kyiv). She is an artist, writer, and performer. 

Kakhidze works with ideas of consumption, consumerism, and power. 

She studied at the Kyiv National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture and at the Jan Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Kakhidze states that her cultural identity includes parts of Ukrainian, Georgian and Western European mentalities.

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Having a bath, 2022

  • Степан Рябченко Stepan Ryabchenko

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Stepan Ryabchenko, The Blessing Hand, neon 2012-2013

Stepan Ryabchenko is a new media artist. His creative endeavours span the fields of digital art, conceptual architecture, sculpture, graphics, and light installations.

He was born and continues living in Odessa. 

In 2021, he was included in the list of the best digital artists in the world.

Ryabchenko implements a wide range of computer software and digital technologies to make digital prints, animations, sculptures, light installations, and videos.

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Transition, 2020

  • Ольга Пілюгіна Olha Pilyuhina

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Tapestry Will, Cotton, 2020

Olha Pilyuhina is an artist from the Poltava region. She makes tapestries by hand-weaving in the traditional, smooth way. In addition, she creates sculpture, batik, textile collage, and artistic paper cutting.  

Pilyuhina’s works often depict Ukrainian nature and traditional patterns.  She represents the national symbols in her artistic way improvising with images and colours. 

Her art is life-affirming, positive, and inspiring.

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Tapestry Date, Wool, Ukraine, 2019

  • Анатолій Криволап Anatolii Kryvolap

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Step, 2009. New York, Phillips Auction House. Sold May 13, 2011, for $98,500

Anatolii Kryvolap is a master of non-figurative painting based in Yagotyn, Kyiv region. In 1976 he graduated from the Kyiv State Art Institute.

He refers to his work as a “meditative landscape,” in which the viewer concentrates more on the feelings evoked by the colours than on the specifics of the scene. 

Anatolii Kryvolap is considered to be the best-selling Ukrainian artist. 

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Evening over Kaniv, 2013

Thus, you have learned about the most prominent contemporary Ukrainian artists. 

What works do you like the most?