As a self-taught artist, I surrender to motion and color in its purity and fullness. My intent is not to arrive at a preconceived visual display, but to reach stasis, the elusive balance between feelings of turmoil and stillness of the canvas. By using bold, colorful strokes I arrive at a multi-layered texture that showcases the struggle of creation.

Coming of age in Ukraine I was exposed to Eastern European avant-garde art and iconography. However, it was not before I moved to Vienna when I first approached canvas. It was a few years later in Oxford, during my Ph.D., that I had my first exhibition. In my 20’s and 30’s I was fortunate to have an opportunity to live in Vienna, Berlin, London, submerge in the European art and examine it through historical as well as intellectual lenses. And although I became fascinated with 19th Century and Impressionist art, in my practices I was influenced by Art Informel, a European equivalent of Abstract Expressionism in the US. Finally, my relocation to New York City, and my exposure to the collections of abstract expressionism, has solidified my connection to this form of creation. 

For me the essence of the art is not the motif but the act of creation itself. In this sense, a finished piece displays the struggle of the material put into motion. The latter describes not only the velocity of the gestures, but also the tensions between brush and canvas, between hand and brush, between paint and tool. The struggle is articulated through broken color, uneven saturation, crude application of the paint, forceful removal or forge of base layers and scratching, scraping, and peeling of the surface. Paraphrasing, the art critic, Harold Rosenberg, at some point the canvas becomes the boundried arena, depicting not a picture but events. This is true for me. 

The activity of art making is a physically and emotionally draining process that requires being simultaneously present and absent. Creation is locked in a continuing motion seemingly stripped of intent. The brushstrokes seem chaotic at first glance, but there is a deliberateness in the subconscious actions. There is an inner logic and progression to the movement. While the gesture starts naïve and peaceful it continues to invoke the turbulence of the creative process as the piece evolves on the canvas and within myself. It stops when a state of euphoria or discomfort is reached which is culminated with a total alienation from the final piece. A total transformation from being actively involved to being a detached observer. At times it generates a strong feeling of abandonment and emptiness.

The act of creating is a lengthy process. Paintings go through several phases, several lives. Some might take years to finish. Those pieces are examined and reworked periodically. The existing layers are sometimes covered completely, treated as a new background, while their details provide necessary texture for the next layer. In such a way, the painting is a mimicry of the life itself, where events and experiences are layered one on top of the other creating unique character. Indeed, this multi-layered texture, dents, bulges, gouges, and scratches result in one of a kind, unique arena. An arena of struggle awaited to be discovered, reexamined to reveal the true scope and depths hidden in the art of making.