Mayana Gallery exhibit spotlights artists working in Lviv (11/03/02)

Mayana Gallery exhibit spotlights artists working in Lviv

NEW YORK - ArtFira.com, in collaboration with Mayana Gallery, presents an exhibit of artworks by emerging Ukrainian artists, who are distinguished by their exceptional skills, strong academic backgrounds, personal styles and techniques.

Within the past decade, Ukraine, a country in transition, has been experiencing a difficult time, both in the economic and the social spheres. Despite all adversities, much has been happening on the Ukrainian cultural scene, especially in the field of visual arts. Most artists represented in this exhibition currently reside and work in Lviv, a town with old artistic traditions.

The featured artists have participated in a number of exhibitions, both group and solo in galleries of Ukraine, and Central and Western Europe. They have a cross-cultural appeal: the viewer perceives them unconditionally, unhindered by his or her cultural or ethnic background, esthetic standards or personal tastes.

The following artists are featured in the exhibit.

Volodymyr Kostyrko, a graduate of the Lviv College of Applied Arts, holds an M.A. in art history from the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. His often grotesque, figurative paintings (oil on canvas) are adaptations of historic figures and settings to contemporary perception, utilizing the old masters' chiaroscuro technique.
Oleh Denysenko is a graduate of the Lviv Academy of Printing. He finds inspiration for his etchings in the Northern Renaissance masters. Mr. Denysenko describes his work as "art-chemistry," which is an actualization of spiritual energy through the creative imagination and skills of the artist.
Yurij Lesiuk, a professor at the Lviv Academy of Art, is a representative of the older generation of Ukrainian painters. A graduate of the Odesa Grekov Art College and the Kyiv Academy of Art, Mr. Lesiuk's realistic landscapes (oil on linen) achieve a true representation of the countryside. His love of nature emerges from the Carpathian village of Kovaltsi, Kolomyia region, where the artist was born and spent the early years of his life.
Nataliya Pukhinda is a graduate of the Odesa Grekov Art College and the Lviv Academy of Art. In her "eclectic revivalist" paintings (gouache on paper), Ms. Pukhinda depicts romantic fragments of rural existence. Her paintings intend to beautify our illusion of reality.
Serhij Bratkovsky graduated from the Lviv Polytechnic Institute, majoring in architecture. In his paintings (oil on canvas), Mr. Bratkovsky expresses the beauty of old buildings, streets, parks, squares and scenes of Lviv city life, through the geometric forms of "formal cubism" and a limited spectrum of colors.

An opening reception will be held Friday, November 8, at 7 p.m. at the Mayana Gallery, 136 Second Ave. (between Eighth and Ninth streets), fourth floor. For information call (212) 260-4490 or (212) 777-8144; or visit the websites www.brama.com/mayana or www.artfira.com.

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