Painting in Ukraine: A Conversation with Yana Bystrova and Alisa Lozhkina
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Please join us for a conversation on the challenges of contemporary Ukrainian art in times of war in the context of the exhibition, Painting in Excess: Kyiv’s Art Revival, 1985 – 1993, on view in our Carole A. Fewell Gallery through December 4th. Artist Yana Bystrova participating artist in the exhibition, along with Alisa Lozhkina, a contributor to the scholarly publication that accompanies the exhibition, will be in conversation with Elvis Fuentes, Executive Director of the Coral Gables Museum. Among the topics discussed will be Ukrainian cultural identity and aesthetics and social and political activism in visual arts, and others.
About the book:
The catalog Painting in Excess; Kyiv’s Art Revival, 1985-1993, accompanies the exhibition of the same name and was published by Rutgers University Press and the Jane Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, from Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey, in November 2021. This publication includes essays by leading experts on contemporary Ukrainian art, tracing and documenting the diverse artistic manifestations of the transitional and exhilarating years in Kyiv while providing some historical artworks for context.
About the presenters:
Alisa Lozhkina is an independent art critic and curator from Kyiv and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 2013 and 2017 Alisa served as Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Mystetskyi Arsenal, the largest museum and exhibition complex in Ukraine. From 2010 to 2016 she worked as Editor in Chief at major Ukraine art magazine ART UKRAINE. Alisa has curated numerous art projects in Ukraine and abroad and written several books, including Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, XX–early XXI century, which was published in Ukrainian in 2019 and translated into English and French.
Yana Bystrova is a third-generation artist from Kyiv, Ukraine. Her work has evolved from figurative to abstract and the hybrid forms of expression, with a strong conceptual emphasis on color, ambiguity of perception and interpretation. Her background roots in both: academic studies in Kyiv Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture with a diploma in Mural Art, and end of the soviet era “Perestroika” underground art scene of Furmanny Lane in Moscow. Her first official expo participations date back to the student years. Yana moved to Paris in 1991. Between 1998 and 2010, she held jobs in design, web design and finally programming. Since 2011, she has devoted her time entirely to painting. Yana lives and works between France, the U.S. and Ukraine.
