Sunflower... fall

An experienced painter, graduate of Dnipropetrovsk Art School and Kharkiv Art and Industry Institute, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Ivan Kovalenko has gone through a long and fruitful quest. He had success when working in watercolors, experimenting with impression and expression, painting abstract pieces. And yet, he felt greatest pleasure when coming back to realistic painting.

For his solo exhibition in Kyiv, the master selected mostly realistic landscapes and flower still lifes, created in different parts of Ukraine over the past five years of his nearly a quarter century of creative activity. They summarize Kovalenko’s achievements, resulting from his quest to grasp color and tone sequence, moving from rather localized to completely free combinations, as well as texture of the canvass and the paint.

It is truly fascinating to see how from a painting to a painting, from an exhibition to an exhibition, the painter’s hand becomes stronger, enabling him to lay those vivid brushstrokes which stand between artistic realism and mere careful copying. Every painting’s plot is subtly personal, as evident from features ranging from a barely visible path among lush flowering hills where the dreamy plot-searching artist’s traces are still fresh, to the foothills, where the blue air is so easy to breathe in all weathers, or a shabby window, decorated with luxurious mallow flowers, or Kovalenko’s favorite sunflowers and bouquets of flowers, looking as if they have been carefully selected to be presented to someone. Each painting creates the predominantly bright and clear mood, matching the artist’s own pure and bright nature, capable of building emotional relationships with the audience via the paint.

Such bright people make best teachers, and teaching has become another highly important facet of Kovalenko’s life. After ten years spent as an industrial artist at an art factory, he wholeheartedly devoted himself to teaching at his alma mater. While continuing to paint himself, he has been helping talented young people to discover their talents and find their own way in the art world. The artist’s daughter Tetiana Kovalenko is his very special student, who has managed to conquer the hearts of many metropolitan galleries by her original works. Even though her father disclaims the honor of her formal education, he still was the one to teach her the first, and probably the most important lessons, opening the unlimited space for her aspiring artist’s soul.

Some of Kovalenko’s students, now continuing their education in Kyiv, attended their teacher’s exhibition opening ceremony and spoke of him warmly, sincerely, with great reverence and gratitude.