Biljana Roman – an art teacher with a surprise

I was very happy to open my inbox the other day and find a treasure in the spam folder – it does not happen very often, now, does it?  Biljana Roman from Ruski Kerestur, Serbia, sent me samples of her very original artwork – designs from textile, or better yet – fiber designs. You can click here to read the full descriptions of the creative process of my two personal favorites and to see more.

You will find out that her creations seem weightless and fluffy, as if floating in space unsupported. I just want to point out that when I first laid my eyes on them, I felt that the sheer physicality was taken apart and down to the finest and tiniest fibers and then recreated in something surprising. Yes, it is a miniature pillow, but I can’t deny I see life pumping through the veins and arteries. Was it intentional? Very intriguing!

Coutesy of Biljana Roman

The piece below, titled Unfolding, raises more questions than it answers. Myriads of tiny threads float around two almost identical shapes that remind me of lungs, to be sure, and that, for some reason, make me take a breath every time I look at them.

Courtesy of Biljana Roman

Biljana has exhibited solo and collectively over fourty times in Novi Sad, Subotica, Belgrade, Krinjica (Poland), Presov (Slovakia). She does illustration, painting, drawing, set design, and has worked full-time as an art teacher in the Elementary and High School Petro Kuzmjak since 2006.

Source: Courtesy of Biljana Roman

Dezider Milly – a big artist from a tiny village

Dezider Milly was a Rusyn artist born in Kyjov, in the district of Stara Lubovna in eastern Slovakia. He achieved the status of a nationally recognized artist. As you can see, his style was unique (the painting On the Way From Work gives the viewers a feeling of being unfinished, yet it has enough to present the subject matter in a satisfactory way), and already as a graduate he was critically acclaimed. One of his lovely fairy-tale like landscapes was used for a stamp in 2006. For more information on this re-known artist, visit this link.

On the Way from Work (1956) by Dezider Milly
Source: Web Umenia

The landscape that made it into a 2006 stamp

The 2006 stamp

Andriy Kotska – a sensitive observer

Karpat Art offers a great variety of works by Transcarpathian visual artists, past and present. I greatly encourage you to explore its galleries in order to experience the spirit of the Carpathian land through the collection of the artworks they hold. Here is a portrait by Andriy Kotska, an Uzhorod native, of a girl in a traditional dress. The immediacy of the hasty brushstrokes brings the viewer right into her presence, and the light illuminating her face and highlighting the whites adds to the feeling of festivity and hope.

Girl from Kolochava 1952 by Andriy Kotska
Source: http://karpatart.com/en/exhibitions/86/1202020richchyu-vid-dnya-narodzhennya-andriya-kocki-pricvyachy20tcya.html

Volodymyr Mykyta – the soul of Transcarpathia

So I’m finding out that lots of resources on Rusyn visual artists are in Ukrainian or Russian language. I’ve asked a  friend of mine, Lucia from Slovakia, who is fluent in both to throw some websites my way so I could access the photos and other information about the artists I’m interested in.

Odinoka by Volodymyr Mykyta
Source: http://www.mykyta.com.ua/index.php?option=com_datsogallery&Itemid=646

This piece is a wonderful modern take on solitude by Volodymyr Mykyta, a still active and very famous painter born in Rakoshyno (now Ukraine), one of the last living members of the Transcarpathian School of Painting.

Here is a fantastic little article about him published at his 80th birthday when a permanent exhibition of the School was opened by The National Museum of Fine Arts of Ukraine in 2011.

His latest exhibition was in 2016 at his 85th birthday in Uzhorod, showcasing eight dozen of his artworks that he felt were the most important on his creative journey.

Anton Kashshai – capturing the feeling behind

Anton Kashshai did not seriously consider painting only until his later years. He started as a traditionally realist painter, capturing Ukrainian landscape, incorporating some impressionist techniques as well. Blue hues remind us of the work of Cézanne and his mountain landscapes, but whereas the French Post-impressionist is more geometric in his handling of the scenery, Kashshai softens the angles. Both were, however, deeply concerned with the feeling the nature gives them and transferring it to the canvas.

Verkhovina by Anton Kashshai
Source:http://www.wallery.org/?artwork_id=1959