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Artist’s Statement

Growing up in Ukraine and moving to Canada has given me a great inspiration and a lot of subject material for my work. Immigration gives an individual the experience of feeling like the whole universe is your home, and there is no one place where you may plant yourself and feel at peace. My family takes up the role to ground me as well as inspire many of my creations in which I try to find love and a home within one’s family rather than one’s physical house. Discovering Canada’s great wealth of natural splendor has also stimulated my interest of painting landscapes which is presently becoming the most prominent theme in my work.

Spending as much time as I do exploring outdoors seldom makes anyone wonder why landscape is such a prominent theme in my art. Trying to paint nature for so many years and in a variety of different styles made me realize that capturing my personal thoughts and feelings along with the beauty in front of my eyes is the most important aspect to me. Many of my clients mentioned that my work reminds them of stained glass. I often outline images in my work in thin dark lines.. To me, it is one of the final steps in which I try to elevate the energy of the entire piece. Outlined, the colors become brisk and vibrant, the shapes gain a deeper personality.

I enjoy spending time with my family outdoors. Fishing and skiing are among those things that we do a lot and never have enough of. The themes that I draw on in my work include my love for my family, my passion for nature, and the flux of life in which I find more questions than answers. The symbol of the fish itself takes on many different meanings as I use it time and time again as a metaphor for myself and for anyone who wonders through this world feeling lost.

Although I have a strong background in classical painting and drawing, through the guidance I received obtaining my degree in Art from Lvov’s Politechnic University as well as my Illustrator Diploma from Sheridan, I cannot attribute my work to any particular style. I paint what I see and feel, using my life experiences to guide me on the canvas. Painting for me is the process in which some of my thoughts get a chance to become visible. Therefore, I try to make my work conceptual, inviting one to analyze the embedded meaning in it. Influenced as a child by my father’s art works, painting for me has become a journey of self-discovery and self-expression. Borrowing from different traditions, my paintings are experimental as I strive to best represent a thought or a feeling that I am living through. Using mixed media, acrylic and oil paints in particular, I constantly try new techniques rather than remain stagnant in one place. My life’s works represent both, change in technique and subject matter. My art is a journey in which I hope to find answers to some of the life’s most difficult and universal questions.