Chimeras by Kateryna Boichuk

“Chimeras” is the title of a solo exhibit by the young artist Kateryna Boichuk at the Sribni Dzvony [Silver Bells] Gallery. There are two separate but complementary explanations for the title. On the one hand, “Chimeras” is the paradoxical and subtle blurring of the boundary between the real and unreal, which is an almost obligatory element of Kateryna Boichuk’s artistic world. On the other hand, this title conveys a certain stylistic eclecticism in her work, which she transforms into an expressive and interesting technique. It is no surprise that her copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine (and not only she) ranks on a par with her essentially original works now on display.

The works of Kateryna Boichuk are graphical, black-and-white drawings in gel ink pen. Their style is minutely elaborate, conveying all the nuances of every kind of ornamentation, shade, and half-shade. At the same time her works exude the generally chilling severity of the world that she creates in her paintings. Its inhabitants are quite numerous. This world seems like an almost airless space with its own laws, which is why the weightless sphere in Dragonflies and a Metal Ball does not seem all that unreal. At least it is no more unusual than her Fish-Cow, which is swimming through a window or a gigantic lobster that’s crawling up a wall.