Valeriya Shebelnichenko, Catch the Hurricane, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2023 for sale at Pamono

Description

“Catch the hurricane” is an original painting realized by Ukrainian artist Okno in 2023. Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, without frame. Hand signed. Excellent conditions. The canvas is personally made and stretched by the artist. The artwork presents bold and quick gestures of the hand, with the use of charcoal. Signs that wisely generate the shape of the body. The anatomy is intuitive and creates a peculiar perspective, a trait specially chosen by the artist to underline the dreamlike denotation of the scene. This artwork is part of the series with cerulean blue backgrounds, in which the frame of the figures is the sky. Works such as this one, which have figures in bright pink as protagonists, are those in which the artist depicts herself in the dimension of dreams. It is a safe space, in which she seems to play with the clouds and with the body. The scene is suspended in time. The infinite space of the cerulean blue sky creates a feeling of peace and transports to another dimension. For the Ukrainian artist this current research becomes necessary to be able to escape from the reality of her time, a safe and serene place in which she can take refuge. Thus, these bright colours and fluffy clouds become the only necessary elements. The free space around the figure is a sign of estrangement, lightness and purification. This series investigates two phases of sleep: light sleep and deep sleep. The works with the figures in bright pink speak of the phase of light sleep, where the artist is also present as an identity. While the works with a cerulean blue background and figures painted in burnt umber oil color are those that inhabit the unconscious part of the artist, i.e. part of the deep phase of sleep. Valeriya Shebelnichenko, aka Okno, was born in Ukraine in 1996. Painter and performer, she currently lives and works in the city of Turin. She moved to Italy in 2004 and studied at the Art and Music High School in Forl, obtaining her diploma in 2016. with her emotional approach to painting and performance, she manages to involve the viewers by making them part of her experiences. Oknos works have been shown in the cities of Venice, Milan, Turin, Pisa, Rimini, Forl, Edinburgh, she arrived as a finalist in the Arte Laguna Prize and exhibited in the spaces of the Venetian North Arsenale. Her career, albeit young, denotes various collaborations, aimed at creating an artistic dialogue that involves multiple senses.