Artwork Gallery – Magazine Issue 2. Connections
Intro from editor: This issue is devoted to connections – international, personal, and family. It is about relationships, societal statuses, conflicts, and different perceptions. We tried to bring together artists and representatives of different cultures and perceptions of the world. And harmoniously show the combination of such talented people! You can see traditional and digital works, photographs, collages, textile art, animation, and 3D objects among the artists. This time the selection of artists combines quite complex themes and personal stories. We hope that the presented art will inspire you too! Feel free to scan the QR code to visit our hero pages! Interviews: ■ Art-Territory founders ■ Ilgonis Rinkis ■ Kateryna Goncharova Represented artists: Nazli Abbaspour, Maryam Al-Homaid, Anastasia Dzhupina, Gaia Giongo, Olga Gulyaeva, Alexandra Hetman, Milica Jankovic, Oleg Kateryniuk, Yuliia Khovbosha, Alla Kudziieva, Katerina Kushnerova, Marie Le Moigne, Jikke Lesterhuis, Gala Mashanova, Kryštof Novotný, Linda Partaj, Veronika Petuchova, Fazar R.A Wibisono, Tiziana Rasile, Katya Rybakova, Farëna Saburi Front cover artist Katerina Kushnerova @kushnerova.artist Order now: https://artworkgallery.net/product/artwork-gallery-magazine-issue-2-connections-pre-order/
Intro from editor:
This issue is devoted to connections – international, personal, and family. It is about relationships, societal statuses, conflicts, and different perceptions.
We tried to bring together artists and representatives of different cultures and perceptions of the world. And harmoniously show the combination of such talented people!
You can see traditional and digital works, photographs, collages, textile art, animation, and 3D objects among the artists. This time the selection of artists combines quite complex themes and personal stories.
We hope that the presented art will inspire you too! Feel free to scan the QR code to visit our hero pages!
Interviews:
■ Art-Territory founders
■ Ilgonis Rinkis
■ Kateryna Goncharova
Represented artists:
Nazli Abbaspour, Maryam Al-Homaid, Anastasia Dzhupina, Gaia Giongo, Olga Gulyaeva, Alexandra Hetman, Milica Jankovic, Oleg Kateryniuk, Yuliia Khovbosha, Alla Kudziieva, Katerina Kushnerova, Marie Le Moigne, Jikke Lesterhuis, Gala Mashanova, Kryštof Novotný, Linda Partaj, Veronika Petuchova, Fazar R.A Wibisono, Tiziana Rasile, Katya Rybakova, Farëna Saburi
Front cover artist Katerina Kushnerova @kushnerova.artist
Order now: https://artworkgallery.net/product/artwork-gallery-magazine-issue-2-connections-pre-order/
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“<br />
Art is a universal visual language that<br />
unites, inspires, and fills the world with<br />
its own meanings!<br />
We aim to connect artists from all<br />
over the world and also show talented<br />
Ukrainian artists here.<br />
ANNA PONOMARENKO<br />
Founder & Curator
Intro<br />
This issue is devoted to connections <strong>–</strong> international,<br />
personal, and family. It is about relationships, societal<br />
statuses, conflicts, and different perceptions.<br />
We tried to bring together artists and representatives of different cultures<br />
and perceptions of the world. And harmoniously show the combination<br />
of such talented people!<br />
You can see traditional and digital works, photographs, collages, textile<br />
art, animation, and 3D objects among the artists. This time the selection<br />
of artists combines quite complex themes and personal stories.<br />
We hope that the presented art will inspire you too! Feel free to scan the<br />
QR code to visit our hero pages!<br />
artworkgallery.net<br />
@artworkgallery_net | FB artworkgallery.net<br />
All right reserved | Copyright 2023 | Front cover artist Katerina Kushnerova
Content<br />
INTERVIEWS<br />
04<br />
26<br />
46<br />
Art-Territory founders<br />
Share Ukranian culture with the world and support modern artists.<br />
Ilgonis Rinkis<br />
An artist, who captures a moment that can’t be repeated<br />
Kateryna Goncharova<br />
Through art, the artist traveler displays the human essence<br />
REPRESENTED ARTISTS<br />
12<br />
Katya Rybakova<br />
40<br />
Alla Kudziieva<br />
14<br />
Milica Jankovic<br />
42<br />
Linda Partaj<br />
16<br />
Alexandra Hetman<br />
44<br />
Yuliia Khovbosha<br />
18<br />
Farëna Saburi<br />
52<br />
Kryštof Novotný<br />
20<br />
Tiziana Rasile<br />
54<br />
Fazar R.A Wibisono<br />
22<br />
Maryam Al-Homaid<br />
56<br />
Gaia Giongo<br />
24<br />
Katerina Kushnerova<br />
58<br />
Gala Mashanova<br />
32<br />
Oleg Kateryniuk<br />
60<br />
Veronika Petuchova<br />
34<br />
Olga Gulyaeva<br />
62<br />
Marie Le Moigne<br />
36<br />
Jikke Lesterhuis<br />
64<br />
Anastasia Dzhupina<br />
38<br />
Nazli Abbaspour<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
05
Interviews<br />
Co-founders<br />
Maria Manuylenko-Riabchun and Olga Severina<br />
Art Territory Ukraine<br />
Share Ukranian culture with the world and support modern artists.<br />
@art.territory.ua<br />
FB art.territory.ukraine<br />
www.art-territory.com<br />
06 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Tell us how you met and when you decided to start the project together? Did you<br />
have experience working together before Art-Territory?<br />
Olga: Although we are both from Kharkiv <strong>–</strong><br />
the second largest city in Ukraine, Masha and<br />
I did not know each other prior to our professional<br />
relationship.<br />
Our collaboration began through The 4th<br />
Block <strong>–</strong> an international poster exhibition,<br />
held every three years in our beloved Kharkiv.<br />
The exhibition’s aim is to bring together the<br />
latest trends in international poster design<br />
that have ecological objectives or connotations.<br />
The name of the exhibit <strong>–</strong> The 4th Block<br />
comes from reactor number 4, which was<br />
destroyed in the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.<br />
Before moving to LA, I served as The 4th Block’s<br />
exhibition curator and a selection committee<br />
member. Over the years I stayed in touch with<br />
Oleg Veklenko <strong>–</strong> The 4th Block’s founder and<br />
president, who was also one of my favorite<br />
professors and a lifelong mentor.<br />
I always wanted to continue my collaborations<br />
with The 4th Block, because working<br />
with its amazing team was one of the most<br />
memorable and fulfilling experiences of my<br />
career. This is why, when I founded my Poster-<br />
Territory initiative where I launch socially<br />
conscious exhibitions and events, and publish<br />
articles and books on contemporary graphic<br />
arts, I started doing some of these projects<br />
together with The 4th Block.<br />
That is how I met Masha who began working<br />
as an art manager of The 4th Block’s Graphic<br />
Designers Association a few years after I left<br />
for the US. We quickly connected and became<br />
great friends and colleagues. We worked<br />
together on a variety of shows and exhibits<br />
that promoted graphic arts and examined<br />
their impact on the fabric of contemporary<br />
society.<br />
All of this changed at the dawn of February 24,<br />
2022, when Russian forces started bombing<br />
peaceful Ukrainian cities and towns.<br />
A few weeks before the invasion there was<br />
an eerie feeling in Ukraine that the war was<br />
looming, so The 4th Block Association started<br />
a poster call “Stand With Ukraine” where<br />
artists could express their support for our<br />
country. The posters started to pour in almost<br />
immediately and by the time the full-blown<br />
offensive began we had a large collection of<br />
posters by authors from all over the world<br />
that we took to the streets.<br />
The team of The 4th Block <strong>–</strong> every one of us,<br />
even those who were still in Kharkiv, under<br />
constant bombardments <strong>–</strong> were uploading<br />
new pictures every day, sending them to print<br />
shops around the globe to be copied and used<br />
in the anti-war demonstrations that were<br />
happening everywhere. In 2022 we launched<br />
20+ exhibitions that featured “Stand With<br />
Ukraine” poster art.<br />
We’ve always believed in the power of cultural<br />
diplomacy. We’ve launched art exhibitions<br />
and design festivals, environmental projects,<br />
and social events to help make the world a<br />
better place. We’ve seen how much can be<br />
achieved using this soft power. Before the war,<br />
we thought the world had, indeed, reached<br />
The End of History, where warfare was dead<br />
and all could be resolved through diplomacy.<br />
How foolish of us.<br />
The war in Ukraine has shown us that, in fact,<br />
Diplomacy is dead and Death is very much<br />
alive! And yet, we still believe that our mission<br />
is not impossible! We must and will continue<br />
our struggle for a better tomorrow, but at the<br />
time of war, we needed to mold the power of<br />
beauty into a weapon.<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
07
We knew how powerful this weapon could be.<br />
Beauty gives us hope, it inspires us, it reminds<br />
us of what we are fighting for. To wield it is<br />
to invest in our future because art is the path<br />
to a better tomorrow, while tanks are nothing<br />
but relics of the past!<br />
This is why in the summer of 2022 Masha was<br />
evacuating from Kharkiv paintings by contemporary<br />
Ukrainian artists, right when the city<br />
was being continuously shelled. She wanted<br />
to save the beauty, but at the same time, she<br />
wanted the beauty to help save the people.<br />
Masha launched an art auction in Denver,<br />
and it was a great success. All the proceeds<br />
from the auction went to support Ukrainian<br />
refugees and the Ukrainian army.<br />
This is what started Art-Territory, and now we<br />
launch art shows and auctions in Europe and<br />
the US with one goal in mind <strong>–</strong> to help end the<br />
suffering and to make the world better, and<br />
today a better world means only one thing - a<br />
world that is not at war.<br />
What goals have you set for yourself? What is the purpose of Art-Territory?<br />
Olga: Art Territory’s primary mission is to introduce<br />
Ukrainian art to the American audience.<br />
As Ukrainians, we want to give Ukrainian<br />
art a voice because we believe that beauty<br />
is louder than bombs. We want to help our<br />
viewers see our country not as a victim but<br />
as a strong and talented nation. We are not<br />
pawns or sacrificial lambs and neither are we<br />
desperate outcasts looking for handouts. We<br />
are fighting for our freedom and our survival<br />
against a massive military machine that<br />
came to Ukraine, and thanks to the Ukrainians,<br />
this monster did not advance further into<br />
Europe.<br />
One of our goals is to continue calling the<br />
world’s attention to the atrocities of this war<br />
and to celebrate the beauty of our country and<br />
our people who continuously show remarkable<br />
bravery, selflessness, and compassion<br />
during a time of unimaginable peril. This is<br />
why we are always looking for nonprofits<br />
with which we can collaborate so that we<br />
can launch new charity exhibitions and art<br />
auctions in support of Ukraine, where we<br />
showcase and sell contemporary art created<br />
by some of the most prominent Ukrainian<br />
artists.<br />
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Historically, Ukrainian art was seen only as a<br />
subset of the Russian arts and this was the<br />
case for many years. It may sound horrible,<br />
but it was because of the war that hundreds<br />
of cultural initiatives took off around the<br />
world that promote the idea that Ukrainian<br />
culture is not the same as its Russian counterpart.<br />
People suddenly realized that Ukrainian<br />
identity survived, despite years of oppression<br />
and extermination, and was able to thrive<br />
against all odds. As an organization, Art Territory<br />
aims to further publicize Ukrainian art<br />
and culture and to help the beauty of art defy<br />
the ugliness of war!<br />
seeking shelter and safety often without<br />
any means of support. To help the artist<br />
Art Territory launched a number of charity<br />
exhibitions and auctions intended to raise<br />
money in support of Ukraine and its artists<br />
for whom these funds are often the only<br />
source of income. We will continue supporting<br />
Ukrainian artists while the war rages on,<br />
but our long-term goals are to popularize<br />
Ukrainian art and to help the audience see its<br />
beauty, versatility, and complexity. We plan on<br />
collaborating with museums and art galleries<br />
in the US and Europe, where we can share<br />
Ukrainian art with the world.<br />
Since the war started thousands of creatures<br />
were forced to leave their homes, abandon<br />
everything familiar, and evacuate abroad<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
09
Thanks to art, your events raise pretty difficult topics. One of the projects is like<br />
this - tell us more about “Ukrainian anti-war posters”. What was the reaction of<br />
the audience to the event? Were there any difficulties in promoting the theme<br />
of the war?<br />
Olga: As I mentioned before, our Ukrainian<br />
anti-war posters are a part of the “Stand With<br />
Ukraine”, poster campaign launched by the<br />
Graphic Designers Association The 4th Block<br />
in February of 202<strong>2.</strong> This is an open poster call<br />
and we are still receiving posters 14 months<br />
into the campaign.<br />
As of today “Stand With Ukraine” posters<br />
collection has 1500+ artworks from 56<br />
countries that are from every corner of the<br />
globe. They demonstrate an amazing creative<br />
range but more importantly, they illustrate<br />
an unending wave of support for our country<br />
that is so critical during these trying times.<br />
This continuous backing of our cause by the<br />
entire international design community is<br />
truly invaluable. It is crucial to know that our<br />
nation is not alone in this struggle for human<br />
rights, freedom, and peace.<br />
We really wanted to share these great designs<br />
with the world so we took these posters to the<br />
streets bringing poster art back to its roots, as<br />
it was the streets where this genre was born<br />
and where it flourished as the original street<br />
art or as a form of creative resistance.<br />
We had a number of poster events in cities<br />
across the US that were always successful,<br />
despite the very difficult topics that were often<br />
the subjects of the poster designs. I think the<br />
10 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
audience responds to the incredible designs<br />
but also, and maybe even more so to the fact<br />
that many of these posters were created by<br />
Ukrainian designers, who made them “in the<br />
trenches” <strong>–</strong> while they were being bombed or<br />
when they were trying to escape the horrors<br />
and the miseries of war. This is why there are<br />
so few doves as symbols of peace on “Stand<br />
With Ukraine” posters and so many harsh<br />
images of real pain, despair, and the ugliness<br />
of slaughter.<br />
Luckily, we did not have any major issues<br />
showcasing our posters <strong>–</strong> people here all<br />
showed their support and all wanted to<br />
help.<br />
The “Path of Resistance” exhibition was more warmly received, as seen in the<br />
photos. What activities did you conduct as part of this event?<br />
Masha: I’m happy to say that the American<br />
audience was extremely warm and welcoming<br />
to the “Path of Resistance” exhibit. In this<br />
show we did not want to display artworks that<br />
depict Ukraine devastated by war <strong>–</strong> we really<br />
wanted to accentuate its natural beauty and<br />
the beauty of its people, to highlight their<br />
inner strength, their continuous support of<br />
one another, their never-ending willingness<br />
to resist, and their ability to see the wonders<br />
of the world even in the darkest of hours.<br />
“Path of Resistance” art show featured pieces<br />
by contemporary artists who work in different<br />
styles and use a variety of media. The exhibit<br />
showcased the creative vision and artistic skill<br />
of our artists and turned out to be a great<br />
success.<br />
this film, the artists share their stories about<br />
their lives before the war and then describe<br />
how each of their lives has changed now that<br />
the war is raging.<br />
Olga: Our “Path of Resistance’’ exhibit was,<br />
indeed, very well received by the audience,<br />
but it also had a lot of support from our<br />
partners and friends. This show is just one<br />
of many events that we launched as part of<br />
our Love. Freedom. Ukraine. initiative that we<br />
produce together with Stand With Ukraine<br />
Foundation, LA, and Sunflower Network. And,<br />
of course, this exhibit would not have been<br />
possible without our great friends at the<br />
Helms Bakery District.<br />
As part of the “Path of Resistance” exhibit<br />
we had a live performance where one of our<br />
artists <strong>–</strong> Irina Kalyuzhnaya painted live models<br />
dressed in traditional Ukrainian costumes and<br />
it was all done in real time. These authentic<br />
Ukrainian costumes are a part of her personal<br />
collection that Irina Kalyuzhnaya brought<br />
with her to America, specifically for this event.<br />
This was a great and unique way to introduce<br />
American viewers to Ukrainian culture. Also<br />
during the event, we had a movie screening<br />
that featured the artists whose works were<br />
presented at the exhibit. This short film was<br />
made in the first months of the war for our<br />
first charity exhibition in Denver, Colorado. In<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
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“Path of Resistance” was not the only event<br />
that featured a live performance by Iryna<br />
Kalyuzhna, but every time she did it <strong>–</strong> it was<br />
truly amazing. There is something magical<br />
about seeing art being born right in front<br />
of your eyes. During the exhibit, we also<br />
showcased Ukrainian poster art by AZA NIZI<br />
MAZA studio and a Fragile Brutalism project<br />
by Seria. Those pieces deal with very difficult<br />
issues, but it was important for us to exhibit<br />
them to make sure the people do not get<br />
used to the war as something mundane.<br />
It sometimes seems as if war is our new<br />
normal and we wanted to make sure everyone<br />
remembers that there is nothing normal<br />
about the war!<br />
In your opinion, interest in Ukrainian culture has subsided after more than a year<br />
of war? Did the inhabitants of America discover the previously unfamiliar world<br />
of modern Ukrainian art and culture?<br />
Masha: I do not believe that the interest in<br />
Ukrainian culture is tapering off. Actually, I<br />
see the opposite trend <strong>–</strong> our team at Art Territory<br />
is doing more events and our geography<br />
is expanding. We are launching our latest<br />
expo in Atlanta next week and we have more<br />
shows scheduled to open in other cities later<br />
in the year.<br />
I think that the Americans only just began to<br />
discover Ukrainian culture. Ukrainian art is<br />
incredibly rich and multifaceted and a single<br />
year is not enough to explore it fully. I truly feel<br />
like this is only the beginning of our journey<br />
and that Ukrainian contemporary art will be<br />
seen on many platforms and in many venues<br />
around the world.<br />
It will be happening more and more because<br />
the beauty of Ukrainian art deserves to<br />
be noticed, to be admired, and to be<br />
purchased.<br />
What advice would you give to the organizers and the artists who promote<br />
Ukrainian art worldwide?<br />
Masha: The most important advice I can give<br />
is: Do not stop! People in the US are getting<br />
tired of the war, which is understandable, but<br />
it is paramount to continue reminding them<br />
that the fighting never stops. Our families, our<br />
children are being killed every day. Ukrainian<br />
art is a great tool that can keep people’s interest<br />
in Ukraine without overwhelming them<br />
with the daily horrors of this gruesome and<br />
unjust conflict.<br />
Another piece of advice when doing art shows<br />
is to display works of the highest quality. This<br />
is key to keeping the viewers interested in<br />
Ukrainian art, which has many amazingly<br />
talented contemporary artists whose works<br />
rival pieces by any modern artist!<br />
One other thing I might suggest is to try and<br />
focus on truly contemporary artworks. What<br />
I’ve noticed in 2022 is that some of the shows<br />
are organized by emigrants who left Ukraine<br />
years or even decades ago. These people often<br />
stay “cocooned” in the time capsule of what<br />
Ukrainian art used to be when they were still<br />
living in Ukraine.<br />
Although they are all doing a wonderful thing<br />
<strong>–</strong> helping our country, but the art itself is not<br />
always representative of a new Ukraine. It<br />
would be great if more people would show<br />
more art that is created “in the moment”, to<br />
feel the latest creative impulses that pump<br />
through the veins of Ukrane’s most contemporary<br />
life.<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
13
Katya Rybakova<br />
I am a young ukrainian artist (19 y.o) from Mariupol. Art is the<br />
main thing that helped (and still helps) me to get through<br />
all the difficulties-it іs a symbiosis of my own feelings and<br />
thoughts, not just a pretty picture. With the beginning of<br />
the full-scale invasion, I began to focus on works about war,<br />
brutality, and evil which were made through the lens of my<br />
own experience. I love both drawing and painting as well<br />
as experimenting with new media and styles.<br />
@rbkvvaa<br />
Кyiv, Ukraine<br />
You can’t be with others until you learn how to deal with yourself.<br />
Being alone with your thoughts is a real challenge that no one talks about. Everyone bears<br />
the burden and struggles with their own pain every day. Challenges, fears, regrets, despair,<br />
hope-that is what my works are about. War, family, loneliness, pain, oblivion.<br />
One day you will definitely find the strength to cope with everything. For now, all that<br />
remains is to survive.<br />
14 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Evil, drawing, A3<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
15
Milica Jankovic<br />
Between studio research, site-specific installations, and<br />
experimental education practice, I have immersed in the<br />
context that brought me towards experimenting with<br />
different materials and art forms, preparing the ground for<br />
further development in new media art practice.<br />
@_milic__<br />
FB milicaj2<br />
jankovicmilica.weebly.com<br />
Cetinje, Montenegro<br />
My work is mainly concentrated on installations, which at<br />
times are wrapped into a miniature form, and other times<br />
expanded into an over-dimensional form, characterized by<br />
the absence of the body.<br />
Installation composed of oversized elements woven in wire (head and hand) has the aim to<br />
question the phenomenon of the shadow through fluid body-space relations.<br />
The installation is set up to continuously interact with the viewer. The body becomes a<br />
canvas on which shadows get projected, and its shadow is an indispensable part of the<br />
work. These shadows you can’t see standing on the side, they manifest in the so-called,<br />
“empty” space of the gallery, where you have to immerse yourself, and through which you<br />
need to move to reveal new projections. What characterizes them is fluidity, due to the<br />
continuous movement of both, the audience and the light source.<br />
The most intriguing aspect of the artwork, in my opinion, is that the Other (the observer)<br />
is required to witness the installation in its entirety, through a sequence of unrepeatable<br />
moments.<br />
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In the shadow of another, we look for our own shadow, in the mirror of another our own mirror<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
17
Alexandra Hetman<br />
Mail art (aka postal art) is a kind of creative flow and wild<br />
imagination through tiny details, collages, stickers, recycled<br />
elements, 2 in 1, 3 in 1 envelopes, combining incompatible<br />
ideas, fake tarot predictions, words of support - and all this<br />
in 1 letter!<br />
@hetmanalexandra<br />
FB alexandra.hetman.33<br />
Odesa, Ukraine<br />
This type of art is a kind of reaction to traditional art,<br />
which was guided by established institutional norms and<br />
standards. Free form of expression, experimentation and<br />
exchange of ideas without restrictions - that’s what I do it<br />
for.<br />
After talking for half an hour with my mother, my soul was filled with special warmth from<br />
contact only with the very idea of showing my letters.<br />
Everything started to spin this fall, a friend sent my address to all corners of the world, and<br />
over time, these works of art began to come to me (in the most classic manifestation of mail<br />
art - through the post office). In other words, you can’t name them, you can look at them<br />
for hours.<br />
Despite the different worldview, different cultural context that forms our view of the world<br />
and understanding of the world, we find this connection, where the link in this situation is<br />
art. For me, this experience is a kind of therapy in our difficult times and has been warming<br />
my heart for many months now, I hope my letters also bring a little joy to my mail friends<br />
too.<br />
18 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Far distant pieces of warmth<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
19
Farëna Saburi<br />
My paintings reflect my anxieties around confinement.<br />
These concerns are influenced by my ongoing experiences<br />
of immigration, as well as the social constructs of gender<br />
that control and limit my mobility. My work makes use<br />
of visual references of Tajik cultural objects and socially<br />
layered places to critique and investigate the inequality of<br />
access to physical, economic, social, and political spaces.<br />
@farenasart<br />
Dushanbe, Tajikistan<br />
The work submitted makes use of collective and personal experiences of immigration and<br />
gender. The research for the work comes from investigation of space and how it is created,<br />
maintained and made exclusive for many groups of people.<br />
At the core of this kind of research is focus on social and political issues and beliefs. It is work<br />
that acknowledges the connections between mobility of people and freedom under the<br />
lens of feminist geography theories.<br />
20 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Private public matter, 7.4x6.2ft<br />
Chaos served, 6x3.6ft<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
21
Tiziana Rasile<br />
I came to abstract painting after years of research on the<br />
synthesis of form and I chose to adopt the classic technique<br />
of oil painting because I love the atmospheric sensations.<br />
Light is very important to me to create color variations and<br />
emphasize the concept of dynamism. The exploration of<br />
movement and brightness is fundamental in all my works,<br />
associated with studies of philosophy, spirituality and<br />
quantum physics.<br />
FB Tiziana-Rasile-ARTwww.tizianarasile.com<br />
Rome, Italy<br />
My works are based on the concept of vibration as dynamic motion in space.<br />
Light vibrates in the space-frame to create a rhythm, a dynamism that creates connections<br />
to embrace time and its variations.<br />
In these paintings as in a “collective dance”, the rhythm is generated by the refraction of<br />
light in the pictorial matter, which is freed in the multiplicity of movement.<br />
Everything moves and is intimately connected! The theme is analyzed from different points<br />
of view: Cosmos, time, soul and nature. In search of a reunion with our original essence and<br />
primordial vitality ...<br />
22 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Vibration in light. Oil on canvas, 60x90cm<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
23
Maryam Al-Homaid<br />
My art direction is inspired by my personal experiences as<br />
a millennial in Qatar and the economic and social changes<br />
that I have observed for the past few years. The changes<br />
are so drastic that what happens today may disappear<br />
tommorow. This includes changes in landscape, languages,<br />
lifestyles, architecture...etc My goal is to document these<br />
changes using textile as a medium. My textile work is a<br />
combination of visuak graphics as well as contemporary<br />
Arabic typography.<br />
@maryamhome<br />
Doha, Qatar<br />
As an interdisciplinary artist, my recent body of work is inspired by my experiences as a<br />
millennial living in Qatar. The economic and social changes that have taken place in the<br />
region have had a significant impact on my artistic approach. Instead of dwelling on the<br />
past, I celebrate the evolution of memories over time. I design my artwork digitally, drawing<br />
inspiration from traditional carpet-making techniques, which are reflected in the craft’s<br />
graphic elements. By studying the traditional graphics of layout and carpet format, I use it<br />
as a foundation for my designs. My goal is to create a unique aesthetic that documents the<br />
changes in the region and celebrates its transformation throughout the year,s while also<br />
starting a conversation with my audience on various topics.<br />
24 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
EI Doha, handwoven wool, 150x200cm, 2021<br />
Doha Hangout, handwoven wool, 180x216cm, 2021<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
25
Katerina Kushnerova<br />
I work on abstract painting, experimenting with color<br />
and texture of paint. I’ve been drawing people for the last<br />
year.<br />
@kushnerova.artist<br />
FB ketrin.nikolaenko<br />
Odesa, Ukraine<br />
I want to convey to the viewer through art works the feelings<br />
that we all face - love, anger, shame, anger, calmness,<br />
disappointment. And to convey that this is normal, to feel<br />
means to live.<br />
My art work is a dialogue with the inner child, self-acceptance through understanding<br />
“Who am I? What do I want?”<br />
As a mother, I am very interested in how our parents and family principles influence us and<br />
our decisions in the future.<br />
26 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Memories, 88×60cm painting<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
27
Interviews<br />
Ilgonis Rinkis<br />
The painting captures a moment that cannot be repeated.<br />
There is something melancholic, lively, and ephemeral at this moment.<br />
I think that makes the painting attractive.<br />
Salaspils, Latvia<br />
@ilgonis_rinkis<br />
FB ilgonis.rinkis<br />
28 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Art has been in your life since elementary school. And when did drawing become<br />
a job and your main activity?<br />
Teaching colors, compositions, and drawing<br />
enter my life in elementary school. There<br />
was an enthusiastic teacher and an artist.<br />
I worked in book publishing houses for<br />
many years — as a layout designer and<br />
artist. I had stopped painting.<br />
He created an exciting cabinet — with<br />
color, gammas, and contrasts. In early childhood,<br />
my mother was good at drawing. I<br />
wondered how she could winterize such a<br />
winding river, an apple, and a carrot with<br />
her hands and feet.<br />
I found my old wooden box of oil paints and<br />
a palette four years ago — I smelled linseed<br />
oil and turpentine. And the love for painting<br />
blossomed again in my soul. I slowly started<br />
painting again. One of the French Impressionists<br />
said:<br />
“<br />
Painting is very jealous. Don’t let it down.<br />
After that, it is difficult to restore the<br />
relationship.<br />
When looking for your style and medium, were you inspired by famous artists?<br />
Or did you come to style on a whim?<br />
Of course, I was influenced by and still<br />
admire the works of several painters. An<br />
artist cannot arise from nothing by himself<br />
<strong>–</strong> he lives under the influence of previous<br />
generations.<br />
Latvian painters, whom I saw in museums<br />
and exhibitions, were of great importance.<br />
I still admire impressionists, renaissance,<br />
and neoclassical art. Lately, I have liked<br />
the works of the Italian painter <strong>–</strong> Giovanni<br />
Boldini. He was a French court painter. This<br />
brush fascinates <strong>–</strong> the speed and “dance”<br />
in the painting. Pronounced expression.<br />
The mood of the work is also influenced by<br />
other forms of art <strong>–</strong> for example, music. It is<br />
essential to me.<br />
Sometimes I am not satisfied with the<br />
result of the work, so I remove the layer of<br />
paint applied the previous day with a painting<br />
spatula and start again. The painting<br />
takes quite a long time <strong>–</strong> the work of several<br />
months.<br />
I have not specially created a style in the<br />
paintings. It arose during the work process.<br />
I am currently painting with oil paints.<br />
In the meadow. Oil on Canvas, 100 x 90 cm<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
29
Near the apple. Oil on Canvas, 100 x 90 cm<br />
Please tell us more about the direction of your work. What inspires you, and what<br />
theme are you trying to discover through your art?<br />
Looking at my paintings, some people say<br />
that I live in a slightly antique world. Because<br />
there are paintings where events take place<br />
in ancient times. But it is not a particular<br />
delay in the past. I made it up in the painting.<br />
Sitting on a bench in the park, many people<br />
pass by <strong>–</strong> there is someone who lives and<br />
looks like a person from the future, someone<br />
who really lives here and now <strong>–</strong> in this reality,<br />
one thinks and rejoices in the past. Now is<br />
such a depressive time <strong>–</strong> economic crises,<br />
pandemics, ecological changes, the war in<br />
Ukraine <strong>–</strong> it is unbelievable that there can still<br />
be a war after the previous wars. People don’t<br />
learn from the past. All severe events change<br />
a person’s value system. You have to see<br />
what is the main thing in life. I have painted<br />
portraits of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I like<br />
how she said, “I am not against war, but I am<br />
for peace”. It is precisely this in positivism that<br />
has the power of God. And that’s exactly what<br />
I want to show.<br />
30 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
<strong>Artwork</strong> In the <strong>Gallery</strong> meadow <strong>Magazine</strong> (fragment) | 31
Children by the river. Oil on Canvas, 110 x 90 cm<br />
“<br />
I find the current reality a little boring and<br />
heavy. I want to bring something new, or<br />
something good from the past, or from<br />
fantasy into it.<br />
There are specific people in the paintings <strong>–</strong><br />
who carry their image in the painting.<br />
32 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
What is it like to be an artist in Latvia <strong>–</strong> are people interested in art there? Has the<br />
situation changed during Covid?<br />
In Latvia, people like painting. They are<br />
interested in it. Sometimes people argue<br />
sharply about what art and painting should<br />
be. Sometimes it can be incomprehensible.<br />
At the same time, it has its favorite painters,<br />
whose exhibitions are visited by many people.<br />
If they say <strong>–</strong> I don’t understand art, then you<br />
can ask yourself <strong>–</strong> do you understand life?<br />
However, one must be tolerant of diversity<br />
in art. You have to think <strong>–</strong> why and what the<br />
artist wanted to say.<br />
During the flu pandemic, the situation was<br />
complicated. In the fall of 2020, I exhibited<br />
at the exhibition, but it had to be closed<br />
after only 2 weeks. And it was reopened in<br />
the spring. And the following autumn, this<br />
exhibition hall held only a virtual exhibition,<br />
fearing that the exhibited paintings could<br />
not be viewed. The big museums were also<br />
closed at that time. As the pandemic abated,<br />
the museum was allowed to contain a small,<br />
determined number of people.<br />
You have been actively exhibiting and had several publications past years. Was<br />
it always like this, or did you work in the shadows? After all, quite a lot of artists<br />
prefer a closed lifestyle…<br />
Yes, I try to participate and exhibit my paintings.<br />
As I already mentioned, there were many<br />
years when I did not paint at all.<br />
Artists are different <strong>–</strong> some like an extroverted<br />
lifestyle, while others <strong>–</strong> withdraw and live in<br />
their own world of ideas in the workshop. I<br />
feel like I fall between these two types. I paint<br />
in solitude, I prefer it that way, even though<br />
there are several people at home, but I have<br />
to be alone for a few hours a day <strong>–</strong> in my<br />
studio.<br />
Exhibitions are places where you can hang<br />
out with other artists and see their works.<br />
Of course, it is interesting to look at the works<br />
of others on social media on various websites.<br />
New technologies open the possibility for<br />
virtual exhibitions.<br />
But a physically exhibited painting cannot be<br />
replaced by a virtual one. It must be seen in<br />
reality.<br />
What advice would you give to an<br />
aspiring artist?<br />
I cannot give such a general recipe or advice<br />
as in a cookbook. Everything is individual. It<br />
depends on talent, willingness to work, and<br />
living conditions where to realize your dream.<br />
These are not such simple questions.<br />
The material side is also important.<br />
Work is of great importance. Not always<br />
inspired to do it. Therefore, professional skills<br />
and experience are helpful.<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
33
Oleg Kateryniuk<br />
My name is Oleg Kateryniuk, 53 years old. I am Ukrainian,<br />
I live near Kyiv. For a long time of my life I learned to draw.<br />
But life sometimes changes our plans and I had to work as<br />
a graphic designer.<br />
However, art is what inspires me, it is what made me go<br />
beyond comfort and return to painting, because I have my<br />
own purpose: to notice the invisible in a world full of life, to<br />
depict the beauty of life, through the prism of my experiences<br />
and thoughts, on the basis of one’s own ideas and<br />
observation.<br />
@olegkateryniuk<br />
FB oleg.kateryniuk<br />
Vyshgorod, Ukraine<br />
We create all our mistakes by doing seemingly good things, be it the advancement of civilization<br />
or the progressive aspirations of all humanity.. But we often fail to notice how we are<br />
killing our world.. And we do it so easily with a smile. And only with time we understand our<br />
crazy smile.<br />
34 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Sester of water, 50x70 cm<br />
Five minutes to Mars, 110x185 cm<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
35
Olga Gulyaeva<br />
I am usually inspired by the Woman as the personification<br />
of beauty, tenderness, love, motherhood and, in fact,<br />
life itself. The ancient Slavs considered a woman to be the<br />
centre of the Universe and associated her with the Sun and<br />
the Earth. When creating an image, I turn to folk customs,<br />
Christian symbolism, and elements of folklore. My creative<br />
research is based on the combination of ethnic values with<br />
the aesthetics of the present, the promotion of the spiritual<br />
culture of our people.<br />
@gouliayeva<br />
Krakow, Poland<br />
The painting “Ukrainian Madonna” depicts a woman-Mother, who gives her son to the<br />
world. She is Mother Nature herself, bringing into the world the essence of creation and<br />
the essence of protection, and therefore the eternal renewal and harmony of life. The<br />
background features smooth, spherical lines that remind us of the beauty and diversity of<br />
the earth’s horizons, give the image significance and emphasise its grandeur and significance<br />
in the Universe.<br />
36 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Ukrainian Madonna, 115×75cm painting<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
37
Jikke Lesterhuis<br />
My work reflects the world around me from my perspective.<br />
Parallel to the changing world, my interests also change.<br />
I am currently experimenting with video installations. My<br />
work is related to the world around us, my own reality and<br />
a lot of fantasies and strange figments of my imagination.<br />
It is a little peek into my world, in which I hope to inspire<br />
people, and open doors to nooks and crannies in ‘reality’<br />
that they had not yet discovered (in themselves).<br />
@jikkelesterhuis<br />
www.jikkelesterhuis.nl<br />
Amsterdam, Netherlands<br />
Silent Frequencies (サイレント 周 波数 ) is a multimedia project in which animation, sound and<br />
words come together in a short film. It is an exploration of the interaction between man and<br />
nature. The short animation pays homage to moss, a beautiful natural phenomenon often<br />
thought of as a weed in Europe, but worshiped in Japan. This allows the mosses to roam<br />
freely, resulting in an enchanting green carpet that rolls through nature like an airstrip.<br />
The poem in the film is inspired by ancient Japanese poetry (waka) and takes the viewer on<br />
a journey in which man and nature meet. The soundscape consists largely of field recordings<br />
made in the Itoshima area.<br />
Jikke Lesterhuis was inspired by the animistic environment and how man and nature are<br />
inextrictably linked.<br />
38 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Scan code to view animation<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
39
Nazli Abbaspour<br />
I think I have lived many times. For this reason, the photos<br />
in the family albums are a nostalgic way for me to find<br />
myself. And there are those old, big houses here in Tehran.<br />
For many years they are already abandoned, uninhabited<br />
and devastated. Surrounded by the everyday bustle of the<br />
city, they stand here as silent eyewitnesses and eyewitnesses<br />
to a past everyday life that has long passed. These<br />
are places full of history and stories. These places of nostalgia<br />
have mesmerized me.<br />
@nazli.abbaspour<br />
nazli-abbaspour.com<br />
Tehran, Iran<br />
Looking at and contemplating on abandoned buildings and deserted old mansions, I<br />
become lost in my thoughts, imagining the lives of the people who lived in them the joys<br />
and sorrows these structures shared with the residents, and the splendid days and nights<br />
that they accommodated.<br />
These blurry thoughts, that how people of the past lived a life of grandiose in these old<br />
buildings, give them an additional sense of glory it feels that these lives still continue to<br />
exist in them, with all of their delights and regrets. Moreover, the buildings, like the people<br />
who live inside them, seem to be longing for their eventful pasts a time full of presence and<br />
life. The buildings look unto the past, missing the people who once occupied them.<br />
40 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
The Enigmatic Fringe of Existence, 50x70, Photomontage, 2017-2020<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
41
Alla Kudziieva<br />
I write in the language of symbolism because it is how I<br />
manage to speak. I don’t choose symbols on purpose; they<br />
just appear, an image or a picture in my head, and take on<br />
a life of their own. When I write in symbols, it’s a way for me<br />
to learn about myself, what is hidden so deeply in me and<br />
so forbidden.<br />
@kuku.buro<br />
FB alla.kudzieva<br />
Ubeda, Spain<br />
It’s about the constant escape from the world and myself.<br />
About the attraction to that which destroys. The addiction<br />
to pain.<br />
Martha and the Blue Tiger is my series of short stories in the style of symbolism. A surreal<br />
tale about the adventures of a girl, Martha, who has a wing instead of a left arm, and a<br />
talking Tiger philosopher. It’s a metaphorical fiction of unhealthy human relationships. In<br />
these stories, Martha and the Blue Tiger reflect on rather non-trivial views of modern values,<br />
attitudes, and human vices.<br />
Stories writer - Alla Kudziieva<br />
Translation - Helen Chervitz<br />
Collages - Alla Kudziieva and Luba Stegnienko<br />
42 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Scan code to read ”Martha and the Blue Tiger”<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
43
Linda Partaj<br />
Linda Partajs paintings are about the ´remains of<br />
memories´. Through her work she explores a very sensitive<br />
state of mind- Questioning the valuable part of the<br />
past and weighing what it may offer the future, how does<br />
a stroke of fate change you and your perception of life.<br />
@lindapartaj<br />
FB lindapartajart<br />
www.lindapartaj.at<br />
Vienna, Austria<br />
Confronted with memories, the desire to keep, share and<br />
save them before they break into pieces.<br />
The artistic work deals with the force of narratives. Fragments of memories, anecdotes,<br />
memorised sceneries of the past are turned and captured in new personal images, a new<br />
way of perception, a perception of a new life. It all begins with reworking personal topics.<br />
The characters start to relate to each other and become projection screens for experiences<br />
and the feelings coming along. The eye wanders through the image, landing on faces,<br />
toggeling between abstract and figurative spheres, recognizing bodies and then losing<br />
and confusing itself again into the overlapping lines and shapes. Questioning the state of<br />
mind, the boundaries, the lines and borders between each other. ´Where i end and you<br />
begin.´ It is about the way of observing the circumstances and start to feel responsible as<br />
a viewer, as being part of it.<br />
44 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Learning how to stand alone, 140x120cm, 2022<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
45
Yuliia Khovbosha<br />
I strongly believe that art can heal. It can drive you through<br />
the most challenging times. This simple but important fact<br />
follows me through my entire journey as an artist. After<br />
discovering that power in my hands to create shapes and<br />
forms, I still feel blessed.<br />
@wowbloomroom<br />
FB wowbloomroom<br />
yuliiakhovbosha.com<br />
Halifax, Canada<br />
My sculptures are just as devoted to nature as I am. I was<br />
always trying to capture the beauty of an ordinary green<br />
leaf, flower petal, or mysterious mushroom using various<br />
mediums.<br />
The work shows how two different species (persons) with different backgrounds can live<br />
together peacefully in one system, one environment, one bubble.<br />
46 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Bubble, 12x12x12cm<br />
Bubble, 12x12x12cm<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
47
Interviews<br />
Kateryna Goncharova<br />
I create in my works anthropomorphic figures or characters,<br />
something that can be filled with feelings, reason, and meanings.<br />
Born: Kherson, Ukraine<br />
Now: Yerevan, Armenia<br />
@kateryna_goncharova<br />
www.kg-artist.com<br />
48 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Where did your journey as an artist begin?<br />
I started drawing in my early childhood. I<br />
often created fictional characters and made<br />
up stories about them. My school notebooks<br />
were all painted on the back with images of<br />
various creatures. Even mathematics was<br />
easier for me to understand if I personified its<br />
abstract concepts through concrete personalities.<br />
That’s how my thinking worked.<br />
in Kherson. But my environment teased me<br />
that I could only be an art teacher and such a<br />
profession would lead to poverty throughout<br />
my life, etc. Then I gave up, and the next year<br />
I passed the exams at an architectural university<br />
in Donetsk because being an architect is<br />
a profitable job. But in my heart, I remained<br />
an artist!<br />
I always knew then that my work would be<br />
connected with artistic creativity. At the age<br />
of 10, I went to study at an art studio, and<br />
after I entered the Faculty of Culture and Arts<br />
After the engineering classes, I came to the art<br />
class and drew there for hours, often staying<br />
all night.<br />
“<br />
The university staff already knew, that I was<br />
obsessed with drawing and I cannot be<br />
kicked out from behind the easel, so they<br />
did keep me. And for me, drawing was the<br />
air that I breathed!<br />
How did traveling affect your creativity. What inspired and what images or<br />
feelings filled your works?<br />
After receiving an architect’s diploma, I<br />
realized I lacked knowledge about the human<br />
being, the inner world I wanted to portray,<br />
and what drives a person and what shapes<br />
him. I draw shapes, but each shape is a whole<br />
material text - why does a person have such a<br />
look, facial expression, posture, and physique,<br />
how did a person become like that, what is<br />
the magic of his personality?<br />
To find answers to these questions, I went<br />
to study at the Faculty of Philosophy and<br />
Religious Studies. At the same time, I worked<br />
as an interior designer - philosophy nourished<br />
my soul, but my body also wanted to eat.<br />
The load then was simply crazy! But I was very<br />
happy to study. After graduating from the<br />
University, I realized that life cannot be read<br />
from books, it can only be lived and passed<br />
through oneself. If I wanted to learn more<br />
about people, I had to go among them. That’s<br />
how I became a member of ethnographic<br />
expeditions.<br />
I was lucky to travel a lot on non-tourist<br />
routes, I saw the real life of people in different<br />
regions of India, Nepal, Mongolia, Cambodia,<br />
and many other countries. Also, until 2014, I<br />
visited Karelia, Tuva, and Buryatia as part of<br />
expeditions.<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
49
Before moving to Armenia, you traveled a lot. Why did you choose this particular<br />
country?<br />
Among our research team were two people<br />
from Armenia - a director and an ideological<br />
inspirer. And then we decided with the whole<br />
team that we would be based in Yerevan as<br />
part of our projects. In 2012 it was an inexpensive<br />
city to live in, from which it was convenient<br />
to fly to any point in Asia. Our research<br />
was mainly aimed at peoples of Asia who<br />
have not yet succumbed to globalization and<br />
have retained their authenticity in clothing,<br />
lifestyle, and rituals.<br />
When the Maidan began, I was in Nepal at that<br />
time. Two weeks later I returned to Yerevan<br />
and flew to Kyiv. I couldn’t stay away! I walked<br />
along the Maidan with a blue and yellow flag<br />
with the inscription “Donetsk” on it.<br />
At the beginning of 2014, I had to return to<br />
Yerevan because other ethnographic projects<br />
had already been planned and agreed upon.<br />
I was supposed to be part of the team by the<br />
end of the year.<br />
And then... And then Russian armed groups<br />
and militarized gangs entered Donetsk,<br />
many of my friends and acquaintances were<br />
forced to run with only one bag because they<br />
were “on the lists.” And some ended up “in<br />
the basement”. Some have gone missing... In<br />
short, after 2014 I had nowhere to go back.<br />
How was the integration in the new place? What did you start doing as a creative<br />
person?<br />
I decided to stay in Armenia for the time<br />
being, got a job as an interior designer and<br />
painted walls, started creating costumes<br />
for various shows. At the same time, I went<br />
on an expedition a couple of times a year,<br />
because I already had experience and<br />
hardening, so I could combine the functions<br />
of a cameraman, a journalist, a photographer,<br />
and a researcher of everyday life and<br />
religious beliefs. I took with my pens, felt-tip<br />
pens, oil pastels, and I made sketches there,<br />
which I immediately gave to people who<br />
were models for me.<br />
You would have seen how happy those<br />
people were with those portraits! Nobody has<br />
drawn them yet! And inside me flowed the<br />
experience of contact with the lives of people<br />
of another culture, contact with their souls<br />
through the picture. Sometimes I could buy<br />
a small canvas and a set of small oil paints on<br />
the market and paint the images that particularly<br />
touched me, already more professionally.<br />
I brought them some later with me.<br />
In 2015, I took part in a group exhibition<br />
of portrait painters in Yerevan and exhibited<br />
three portraits that I painted in India.<br />
They noticed me, and from that time I<br />
began to receive commissions for individual<br />
portraits.<br />
What is your current main creative direction? What is your art about?<br />
Now I continue to explore the inner world inside, don’t be afraid of anything! You do<br />
of a person because this topic is inexhaustible.<br />
I strive to reach that level of artistry yourself and the world, do not stop!” I exper-<br />
not know your depth, go forward, explore<br />
when one can read on canvas without iment with techniques and materials, master<br />
words: “Human, you have no limitations bigger formats, learn new things through<br />
50 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> The old sikh | 51
Women in red sari<br />
communication, and exchange thoughts<br />
and ideas in our community of artists.<br />
My art is about attentiveness to existence,<br />
about empathy, about the ability to listen and<br />
hear. If a person has mastered the art of listening<br />
to his soul, then the whole world becomes<br />
his teacher and friend, and other images<br />
become mirrors in which a person sees the<br />
reflection of his being, his fears, desires, and<br />
hopes. Perceiving oneself and others as part<br />
of oneself as an element of the world in all<br />
its unity, we begin to see this life with clear<br />
eyes, to understand that we are the carriers<br />
of what our life consists of. This creates a<br />
greater level of responsibility, a higher level<br />
of consciousness, and attentiveness, and life<br />
automatically becomes more interesting!<br />
Did the creativity change after news of a full-scale invasion?<br />
With the start of the full-scale invasion, I just<br />
broke down. And although I was not directly in<br />
the combat zone, the war hit me very painfully<br />
in the heart. I somehow thought that I was<br />
emotionally strong and stress-resistant, but<br />
in reality, I could not cope with this blackness.<br />
All life energy disappeared somewhere in one<br />
moment, and my hands fell. Until February<br />
24, I was engaged in exclusive artificial clothing<br />
and hats, and even had a small store, but<br />
after the start of the big war I could not create<br />
anything, war and glamor are incompatible,<br />
and rhinestones are not sewn on uniforms.<br />
For the whole of March 2022, I can only draw<br />
war. About three months later, I pulled myself<br />
together, sold most of my products, and<br />
donated to our army and those volunteers I<br />
knew personally.<br />
52 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Already in the summer, I forced myself to pick<br />
up brushes and start drawing something not<br />
about the war, but it didn’t work out, I painted<br />
some kind of pop art, not at all interesting.<br />
You cannot be creative or happy by force.<br />
Only in autumn, interesting ideas and images<br />
began to pop into my head again, but my<br />
attention is still scattered, part of it is now in<br />
Ukraine.<br />
What would you advise artists who are starting their career?<br />
A sincere, deep, and timely idea gives life<br />
force, and opens the door to some existential<br />
dimension, where there is a boundless sea of<br />
creative energy and where you can stay art<br />
alive!<br />
There is a type of happiness that does not<br />
depend on other people’s opinions and<br />
assessments, or on other views and preferences.<br />
This is the true happiness of independence,<br />
which gives us a kind of spiritual<br />
energy. Often, artists, when they paint, are<br />
already poisoned by thoughts about how this<br />
work will be evaluated. And this does not give<br />
the feeling of freedom, it does not allow the<br />
work to incarnate as a living being, with its<br />
right to its existence, without the cry of our<br />
ego or the thirst for profit.<br />
But when you create emotionally naked<br />
as if you just let the electric current of pure<br />
creativity pass through you, then you have a<br />
mystical power of a free person, and this is a<br />
superpower!<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
53
Kryštof Novotný<br />
I would like to present my self-portraits to your open call.<br />
My name is Kryštof Novotný and I live in the Czech Republic.<br />
I have been painting since I was a child. After high school<br />
I decided to study History of Art, because I wanted to have<br />
more scope about curatorial work.<br />
@krystofnovotnyart<br />
www.krystofnovotny.art<br />
Prague, Czechia<br />
Now I am trying to fully start my artistic career, open a<br />
studio and things related to it.<br />
Since 2017, I have been painting my self-portrait every year, and I will always imprint my<br />
current life situations and moods in each of them. My self-portraits are always very symbolic,<br />
and as my favorite painter Frida Kahlo said: „I paint self-portraits because I am so often<br />
alone, because I am the person I know best.“<br />
54 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Self-portrait with cat, oil on canvas, 75 x 80 cm, 2023<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
55
Fazar R.A Wibisono<br />
I am a painter from Bandung, Indonesia. I studied fine arts<br />
by studying from fine arts and design high school and<br />
then went to fine arts and design high school (university).<br />
After graduating I worked at an art gallery in Yogyakarta<br />
Indonesia as a painting artist with a contract for 7 years.<br />
@fazar.r.a.wibisono<br />
fazarwibisono.simdif.com<br />
Bandung, Indonesia<br />
Now I am only as a freelance painter and continue my<br />
career as a painter.<br />
When a population is going extinct, how will the life of that population be known, will it<br />
be our awareness of this environment or we can only see the extinction of the population.<br />
And hopefully we can continue to enjoy, see also witness this population still survive on this<br />
earth.<br />
56 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Kiss, Hug, Eat #1, Digital Art, 2023<br />
Kiss, Hug, Eat #2, Digital Art, 2023<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
57
Gaia Giongo<br />
Gaia Giongo uses analog collage as the main medium,<br />
combining black and withe images with coloured ones<br />
to explore human needs and feelings, through a feminist<br />
lens. Her artistic practice moves from a reflection on both<br />
a personal and a collective dimension of the struggle: on<br />
the one hand, the exploration of daily-basis little battles as<br />
the individual research of sense of life and the ironical and<br />
fail situations; on the other hand, the investigation of more<br />
collective fights as women rights.<br />
@gaia_giongo<br />
Milan, Italy<br />
The series of analog collages “Be the struggle”, here proposed, specifically addresses feminist<br />
themes as the struggles for women rights, the urgency to broaden spaces where women<br />
voices are equally listened and the self-determination of the own bodies. The images investigate<br />
the concept “relationships” highlighting the networking of women struggles at a<br />
local and an international level. From Iran to Latin America, from the present to the past,<br />
from the little one to the biggest one. Through the relationship women share experiences,<br />
knowledge and practices. The collective exchange becomes a form of resistance and a tool<br />
to challenge the current unequal status quo.<br />
In this perspective, the collage technique perfectly fits the theme: as in collage, single pieces<br />
are merged together to create a new semantic and aesthetic combination, so globally<br />
women are joining struggles, bodies and visions in social relationships to achieve justice.<br />
58 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
OnFire, 40x60cm painting<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
59
Gala Mashanova<br />
My role as an artist is to connect the world of people and<br />
their emotions, emphasising their inseparable bond. I<br />
strive to highlight the abundance of emotions and impressions,<br />
presenting their diversity through various materials<br />
and conveying to the viewer the harmony between visual<br />
language and emotional variety.<br />
@galagram_collage<br />
Belgrade, Serbia<br />
The variety of nature serves as my source of inspiration. I<br />
am intrigued by the exploration of natural textures using<br />
different materials. Our emotions, like the surrounding<br />
nature, interact organically with each other, becoming an<br />
integral part of life.<br />
My project is about the close connection between people, as if it looks like connection in<br />
media. All of our connection is about the addition to each other, and creating new relations<br />
in this process.<br />
It is known that color influences mood and “colours” our impressions according to the<br />
intended goals. Therefore, I explore and work with color, carefully selecting harmonious<br />
combinations. It is important to note that new experiences enrich and inspire us, and my<br />
artworks also bring forth new sensations, images, and experiences.<br />
60 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
61
Veronika Petuchova<br />
Photography by Lizzy Zaanen, @lizzaanen<br />
As an artist, Veronika Petuchova finds herself constantly<br />
lost in work, embracing the liminal spaces between reality<br />
and imagination. Her paintings vary in style, from bold,<br />
colourful pieces to somber monochromatic works. The<br />
work changes constantly but it always reflects on a sense<br />
of nostalgia and uncertainty of the future. She finds solace<br />
in traditional mediums, such as oil and acrylics. The canvas<br />
is a gateway to the worlds in her mind, ploughing through<br />
childlike wonder and possibilities.<br />
@veronikapetuchova<br />
veronikapetuchova.com<br />
Den Haag, Netherlands<br />
I believe the presented series of portraits relates to the theme of <strong>Connections</strong> very well due<br />
to their nature. It can be hard to connect to people in general, both to the ones close to us<br />
as well as those we are just meeting. Eye contact and facial expressions is what allows us to<br />
relate information, as we get the best impression in person. Unfortunately we do not always<br />
get the opportunity to do so. Due to distance or other interference we are bound to digital<br />
communication, which carries benefits but also complications. Overwhelmed to keep up<br />
with connections that are too far from us or just straight up unreachable through the blue<br />
light. Especially with older generation that we cannot reach, like my grandmother. These<br />
paintings deal with overflow of informations and call to look inwards. To communicate and<br />
connect not only with others but also ourselves.<br />
62 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
OnFire, 40x60cm painting<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
63
Marie Le Moigne<br />
My work is not limited to a single medium. Indeed, I exploit<br />
as much photography, typography, writing, video, painting.<br />
Sometimes the mediums intersect, challenge each other,<br />
mix. Between document and photographs, between literature<br />
and visual language, I experiment with the photographic<br />
and filmic image to give matter to language. My<br />
universe feeds on contemplation a bit like Arthur Rimbaud,<br />
therefore on modern and contemporary literature and the<br />
environment.<br />
@lejournaldemary.bzh<br />
www.marielemoigne.com<br />
Plobannalec-Lesconil,<br />
France<br />
« Demain commence - Hier Termine » « Tomorrow begins - Yesterday ends »<br />
Two photographs deconstruct temporality. CYCLIC. They tell a fictional and/or real story.<br />
They invite themselves into the intimate space. I want to open a space close to the self-portrait<br />
or the autobiography.<br />
The female body is revealed, spreads, time stands still and the landscape is transformed<br />
into intimate territories. Temporalities are dissolved. Deconstruct temporality.<br />
The abstract cycle of life.<br />
64 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Tomorrow begins<br />
Yesterday ends<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
65
Anastasia Dzhupina<br />
In my work I focus primarily on the human being, emotions<br />
and internal rifts, referring to my own experiences. I often<br />
use earth colors, as well as various shades of yellow, which<br />
is sometimes identi!ied with mental disorders, anger and<br />
madness.<br />
@artnastka<br />
malarstwo-anastazji.pl<br />
Krakow, Poland<br />
My works are executed using oil technique, painting with<br />
thick impastos, giving texture to the work.<br />
My paintings refer to extreme human emotions, often very extreme, caused by mental<br />
disorders. Such people are engaged in a battle with themselves, which often takes place in<br />
solitude, without the knowledge of even their loved ones. Mental disorders are not understood<br />
by most people. Often people who have been diagnosed feel isolated and sometimes<br />
even discriminated against. My works are meant to show the normality of such states, when<br />
you feel overwhelmed by emotions and want to scream.<br />
66 | <strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
Emotions tear me apart, oil on canvas, 50x40cm, 2022<br />
<strong>Artwork</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> |<br />
67
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