THE GLASS WORLD OF PEOPLE AND THINGS ...

Voloshyn Gallery presents the exhibition The Glass World of People and Things… by Maria Sulymenko, the artist, whose name is new to exhibition visitors. It is little wonder, because Maria Sulymenko is the author of Ukrainian origin, who now lives in Germany, and this exhibition is her first project at the homeland. Some of the artist’s artworks have already been demonstrated by Voloshyn Gallery in the United States at the art show SCOPE Miami Beach 2016. The watercolor paintings of Maria Sulymenko represented at the exhibition The Glass World of People and Things…are comprised both simplicity and laconism, and at the same time, something that is hold an audience spellbound. Everything that happens like slow-motion or frozen in space pictures, and is immersed in an atmosphere of transparent grey air. The artist says that she has neither set special goals, nor invented the concepts; her artworks are not just about what she sees, but also about the way she sees the world. First of all, they are full of aspiration to convey this atmosphere to the visitor. “I always love those “office” premises, where everything is strange, mysterious, and empty, where their own rituals, hierarchies are taken place there. What is happening there? What are they doing there? Probably they laze away their time or perhaps plan to capture the universe. I have the reverential feelings to my characters though they are not the central ones; they aren’t the particular real people, but rather impersonal ones, however, it's a pleasure for me to think that they have their private lives outside the picture,” says Maria Sulymenko. The author delicately and perfectly collect all the details, but at the same time, the viewer keeps the sense of improvisation and ease. The characters of the Maria’s paintings are out of the peculiar era, and placed in a rather nominally, sometimes naive, designated environment, images of which refer to the subconscious, rather than explicit realm. In this absurdity atmosphere there is happening something a very existential. One can ask, whether the characters of Sulymenko’s paintings are the ordinary people, who are floating downstream, or they are nonconformists, who deliberately chose solitude? A few words it has to be said about the articles, cruising from one painting to the other one, such as elongated candles, skins of killed animals, “unidentified things”, certain artworks. Whether it is a picture on the wall or a sculpture on a pedestal – all these things do not evoke sensation of a habitable place. The premises are devoid of homeyness and comfort, and rather resemble the cold spacious aquariums, in which instead of fish there awkward characters with brushed-up hair wearing formal suits are swimming. When you are looking at The Glass World of People and Things…, it comes to mind that people, on the whole, are constantly striving to surround themselves with all this senseless glair, plethora of things. Why? Perhaps, it calms, gives a sense of belonging to a particular social group, releases from the existential loneliness and the fear of desocialisation. Maria Sulymenko was born in 1981 in Kyiv, Ukraine, in a family of artists. She graduated from the Taras Shevchenko State Art School. Then Maria went to get the higher education in Germany and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart (Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart), where placed high emphasis on the sculptural arts and painting. On graduating the academy, the artist went into further academic study at the Hessen State University of Art and Design in Offenbach am Main (Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main), where focused her attention on graphic design. She was taught by the celebrated ATAK (Georg Barber) and Eike König. It was in Germany, where Maria clearly defined her artistic style and created a lot of paintings on paper and canvas.At the moment the artist lives and works in Fridingenan der Donau and Berlin. Voloshyn Gallery was founded in 2006 by spouses Max and Julia Voloshyn called Mystetska Zbirka Art Gallery. It is located in the cultural and historical center of Kyiv on the street Tereschenkivska. Voloshyn Gallery — gallery of modern and conceptual art, is a platform for artistic experimentation, research and social projects. The mission of gallery: popularization of Ukrainian art in Ukraine and abroad. Max and Julia Voloshyn actively represent Ukrainian art abroad, facilitating its integration into European cultural processes. In February 2014 Max and Julia presented the project "Ukraine. The archetype of freedom" in Vienna in cultural and exhibition center Novomatic Forum. In April 2015 at the initiative of the gallery the first Ukrainian art tour to the island of Cyprus called MAKE ART NOT WAR was organized. In 2015, Max and Julia organized the project of Ukrainian artists in New York, which took place in the Ukrainian Institute of America. In June 2016 the Gallery represented Ukrainian artists at SCOPE Basel, satellite of Art Basel, the most prestigious art fair in the world. The Gallery represented Ukraine during the Art Basel Week Miami at the fair Scope Miami Beach the same year. And in March 2017, it participated in SCOPE New York 2017. Max and Julia Voloshyn actively support contemporary young Ukrainian artists and collect their works. In 2015, Max and Julia entered the top 30 Ukrainian collectors according to Forbes and became the youngest in this ranking. In the same year, Max and Julia came in a rating of Ukrainian Forbes: 30 successful Ukrainian, who are younger than 30.