A peaceful Fatherland

The exhibition of Ukrainian artist Natalia Korf’s works will be open till October 5 as part of the project “Alternative Ukraine: Reality and Future.” Born in Poltava, the young artist stands ready to show us simple and charming village life in Ukraine’s heartland. “Landscapes which were painted with love” can serve as a brief description of this picturesque exhibition, featuring gentle and contemplative attitude to the Ukrainian village in every painting on display. To have the audience absorb fully the beauty of a simple pretty landscape, the artists need to be 100 percent sincere themselves, as false patriotism, as well as false love, are found out instantly. However, there will be no disappointment here, as the Poltava painter’s works are distinctly honest and frank. Her Landscapes of My Fatherland are pure and convincing in their truthfulness, and, being a record of unhurried and well-known to the painter rural life, they are especially affecting our souls now, when our native land has become far removed from peace and tranquility.

Korf’s Fatherland is a quiet province with simple everyday life and monotonous work: old farmers with “their own farms,” small courtyards where geese walk and restless broods of chickens cackle.

Green Pasture with fat cows and slightly stooped Old Woman with Goats are recognizable to any visitor, because these are generalized images, well-known to all who had lived in the countryside or just seen it while traveling. An old pair sitting frozen on the bench by the window after receiving a “summons,” old woman in a headscarf with little grandson riding a bicycle, master potter who stands, proud of her craft, besides her fragile goods – Korf’s paintings’ inhabitants are characters from everyday life of this country. At the moment, we emphatically note that this life is peaceful; dramatically, Ukrainians have now to put great effort into preserving this natural state. By the way of a remark, going beyond beautiful depictions, Korf is also supporting her Fatherland’s world by some concrete actions: the event’s organizers have decided to donate to the Ukrainian army a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the paintings.

Korf was born in 1985 in Kremenchuk, started painting while still at school and had her first exhibition when still a teenager. Having graduated from Poltava-based Kondratiuk National University, she was hired as a lecturer at the school’s department of fine and decorative arts. Her activity and talent had her nominated as deputy chairperson of the Union of Young Artists of Poltava, while 2010 saw her joining the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. The artist uses an original mixed painting technique, does book design and drawings. She has been an active participant of beautiful plein air sessions, pottery workshops, and painters’ group exhibitions.

Her paintings can be seen both at solo and group exhibitions these days. Korf formulates her creative credo in the context of her own vision of national culture: “I am enchanted with our fascinating culture and our ethos, it has some kind of ‘profound simplicity...’ The main thing for me is sincerity; I think also that the work is of value only if it can be felt, experienced, and understood. The foundation of my paintings is image. I like to take a simple thing and observe the creative process of its amazing transformation into a living being with feelings and life of its own.”

Korf’s coloristics is one recalling the best artists of the 20th century, as she employs active color contrast, eliminates small details from her compositions, and pictures everything in a generalized and concise manner, using large strokes of palette knife and brush. The artist avoids psychological approach, symbolism or understatements, her paintings exemplify clear and perhaps a bit brutal realism, she sculpts the world and nature of all the characters clearly and precisely. Korf’s paintings are very juicy and generous, simultaneously sincere and not seeking to please the audience: works of this sort are created for the artists themselves and their “very own audience.” Confirming the reciprocity law, a grateful audience for Korf’s works is always available, as the creator’s honesty is rewarded with absolute sincerity of her fans.