Kseniya’s Romantic Collection

The ninth traditional exhibit of the Kseniya’s Day series, this time held at the Art Relief Foundation’s gallery, involves three women artists Oksana Kyrpenko, Oksana Berbeka-Stratiychuk, and Oksana Mylovzorova. It is titled Romantic Collection.

Oksana Kyrpenko remains true to effective decorative compositions reminding one, in a roundabout way or directly, of the Far Eastern and sometimes quite modern trends (A Blossoming Tree), although she obviously gives preference to flora rather than fauna. Her favorite characters are animals emerging as zoological and philosophic categories (The Tree of Life triptych: A Loner, The Family, and Maternity).

Oksana Berbeka-Stratiychuk contributed to Kseniya’s Day her prints (her traditional art) and canvases (a rather new trend for her). Unusually for an urban dweller, her prints are black and white, at times sumptuous in the baroque style (Still Life with Fruit), but sometimes ascetically severe (Gladioli), but always remarkably precise and flawlessly composed. Her paintings boast refined colors and, if I may put it so, principally and rationally musical — in other words, aimed at solving the task the artist sets herself (Evening; Morning).

Oksana Mylovzorova’s five-part “frieze” has its own logic of development and a certain symmetry of plot at the same time. Its heroes are roads experiencing an Upsurge, followed by the Battle for Grapes, Admiration, Battle for Pears, and Downfall. Rocaille elegance in these red-and-brown sanguine paintings combines with an incredible lightness and naturalness.

“In our complicated times not all of us can afford a romantic view of life, but it comes naturally for the authors of this exposition,” reads the concept of this Kseniya’s Day.