By Times Chronicle Staff
Renowned Ukrainian artist Oksana Zbrutska, displaced by the war, will be featured in the latest art show at Wayside Select Books and Art.
The show, titled “Angels Dusting the Earth,” will feature Zbrutska’s unique paintings and prints reflecting Ukrainian ethno-romanticism.
She describes this style as “an independent direction in painting, a complex symbiosis in the modern confrontation of artistic beliefs ‘realism – avant-garde’.
Her paintings are part of a singular big story about simple life on Earth under the great sun, she says.
“Every day, faced with the aggression of the modern outside world, I draw pictures of the gentle world under the big sun with even greater persistence. I hope that my paintings will find favour in people’s souls, soothe and warm their hearts,” she writes on her website.
Oksana Zbrutska
Zbrutska goes on to describe the genre as the awakening of ethnic self-awareness, national dignity, and mental identification. “Understanding of the need for national art as an essential, indispensable, bright, and original part of a large whole, a valuable diamond in the complex development of contemporary world art.” But her style also reflects the “ambivalence of the reproduction” which lends a sense of whimsy to her paintings.
Highly esteemed in Ukraine and beyond Zbrutska has participated in various international shows and was accorded the international Cultural Diplomacy Award and conferred the honorary title of “Honored Artist of Ukraine” by decree of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2021.
Her first show in Canada, on until January 31, will be in Osoyoos and has been made possible by the support of the settlement support organization Ukraine Nightingale Project.
Opening reception and meet-the-artist will be held on Friday, December 1, 4 p.m. at Wayside Select Books & Art, 8317 Main St, Osoyoos.
