Yulia Gasio: Donbas, Ukraine 2014 till the Present

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 24, 2023 12-4 PM

On display: June 24 - August 20, 2023

Artist Statement

As a figurative painter, I concentrate on images of the human form. I believe human figures represent a sensuousness directly linked to our psychology and illustrate the human condition through gestures, textures, and facial expressions. In my opinion the human figure is the most profound way to convey complex social, political, and personal stories, while showing the fragility and value of human life. For a long time, I have portrayed the immediate experience of my family living in a war zone in Eastern Ukraine. Reviewing memories, following the journey of survivors of the ongoing war, and dealing with a personal identity crisis has led me to investigate this conflict in pictorial terms. While working on the narrative of my family story, I realized that buried in my work is the disarray of the human condition brought by political powers, conflicts, and social upheavals. 

I use color symbolically, focusing on value and temperature analysis to establish a mood in my paintings. Form and content are interconnected; I experiment with abstract patterns to convey emotional weight. Against familiar cultural signifiers of the Soviet era like faded wallpaper and fake Persian tapestries, human figures emerge from the debris left by destruction, with their forceful gestures lost in the void. I use reductive and additive paint applications to project an antagonistic relationship in my visual representations, which embody the lives of generations of Ukrainian families living in the shadow of Soviet dominance. My brushwork is influenced by modern painters such as Kathe Kollwitz, Paula Rego, Richard Diebenkorn, and Anselm Kieffer, who inspire me to seek painterly expressions of rebellion against the old Soviet academic style. This theme is a revaluation of my past and an integration of my old and new selves. 

Although my cultural roots in Ukraine will remain forever, as an American by choice I am a member of this multicultural and inclusive society. This happened by fate, not only because the sharp contrast of my two worlds has given me a unique perspective, but also because my art allows me to portray a traumatic experience in pictorial form to initiate a public dialogue. Acclimating to American culture has motivated me to deepen my art research. Despite the turmoil and wars in my home country, my identity as an immigrant artist has allowed me to reconcile the past and the present, taking my search for self-identity in a new direction.