Merging Cultures: Exploring Ukrainian art and culture in the USA
Showcasing a harmonious fusion of contemporary artworks by talented artists from Ukraine and the USA, the “Merging with the Garden” event promises a captivating exploration of life’s ever-changing essence. This project by Rukh Art Hub and Razom for Ukraine is an exquisite art exhibition in the heart of New York City that will be on display from May 25 to June 04. “Merging with the Garden” will feature works by 20 emerging and established artists who explore the themes of birth, death, and rebirth. The show, curated by Polina Kuznetsova, will be presented at Mriya Gallery and invites the audience into a metaphorical garden of life where they can contemplate the intricate beauty of existence that unfolds in a myriad of ways.
The exhibition’s contemporary hall is dedicated to showcasing and promoting Ukrainian art and culture in the United States. It features works by Mykola Kolomiets, whose evocative “Love” series, created with a unique colored pencil technique, infuse the viewer into dreamlike narratives that blur the line between reality and mysticism. Another artist, Alisa Konakhova, with her “Sinflower” series challenges conventional notions of sin and pleasure and offers a fresh perspective on these archetypal notions as gateways to ecstasy and spiritual fulfillment. The exhibition will also introduce the audience to Polina Verbitska’s bold anthropomorphic sculptures and graphics, which delve into the transformative journey of inner exploration that leaves an indelible mark on the external world. The photo series “Roots” by Artem Humilevskyi, a member of a Ukrainian conceptual photography school “MYTH,” will also be displayed at “Merging with the Garden.” It explores topics of identity, resilience, and human interrelationships in times of adversity.
The audience will have an opportunity to dive into a realm of artistic introspection that fuses together the creative worlds of Anastasia Mitikova, Alice Konokhova Artem Humilevskyi, Ave Libertatemaveamor, Diana Ruban Kateryna Reznichenko, Mariko Gelman, Maryna Handysh, Miroslava Denisuk, Mykola Kolomiets, Oleksii Revika, Polina Kuznetsova, Polina Verbitska, Miquel Bonilla, Maria Kulikovska, Victoria Kalaichi, Valeriia Tarasenko, Sergey Melnitchenko, Taras Haida, and Tata Kolesnik.
Project curator Polina Kuznetsova, vividly reflecting the profound connection between humanity and nature, compares the experience of “Merging with the Garden” to a transcendent moment of unity and transformation. Describing the essence of the show, the project curator submerges us in her elusive and dignified mindset. “When in a garden in the early spring, your senses heighten, slightly more at dawn in heavy fog or twilight hour that tells of coming nightfall. The misty air falls onto your skin, infused with odors given off by the fertile soil adorned with patchworks of last year’s foliage. Still, bare branches intertwine to form a mesmerizing web that pulls your gaze into this hypnotizing lacework, and looking in you let your mind wander. Your thoughts fall captive to ethereal beauty and you become then one with your surroundings, if only for a moment. And in that instant of you merging with the garden, the angst of your demise retreats, as death itself then ceases to exist, and all that’s left is nothing, but an endless transformation cycle that reshapes the forms of matter. You are the garden — you can be a patch of moss, a lump of soil, or a budding sapling that’s shooting up into the soaring skies. Embracing a garden that’s within, your senses heighten slightly, but here, in a place that knows no good or evil, with no ugliness or beauty, you lastly can just be. Contrasting is a garden in the summertime, when life’s supremacy, albeit deceptive, still appears everlasting. The life itself is here in full bloom, it bears fruit and celebrates its triumph. Forgotten are old doubts and dreariness is all but in the past. A heavy cloak of thickset herbage hides from view the soil – the only chronicle that tells of bygone winters and summons fables of the yore. When lying down on a bed of grass, before you fall asleep it feels as if you hear songs of Eve and Adam’s laughter as if the Earth had known nothing but the sun, and love, and dreams” Polina Kuznetsova revealed part of what the exhibition is about.
Group Art Exhibition
May 25 – June 04 rukharthub.com @rukharthub
Opening:Sat. May. 25
5 PM
Adult Content 18+
Mriya Gallery
101 Reade St. Tribeca, New York, NY 10013 RSVP
