- Olena Kayinska -

Olena Kayinska is based in Lviv, Ukraine. Working with naїve or pure art techniques she creates narrative paintings exploring philosophical and psychological themes from an intuitive standpoint. Her fields of research are inner peace, post-trauma recovery, human inborn kindness, and love as a powerful driving force of the universe.

Her painting/dreams explore the subconscious seeking the inner self or the observer wandering through an imaginary world, fantastic forests filled with symbolic imagery and archetypal symbols. Her world is inhabited with mysterious creatures, each of which acts as a guide to her purpose of opening the heart.

Artist Statement

I want to return the observer to the pure, sincere, and spontaneous experience of the outer world, which we all had in our childhood. Children observe the world as it is, directly, without thinking. My paintings are childishly simple and straightforward. They help recall the child’s state of trust and safety, the state of interest in the world around, the state of fabulousness and love. As if you are being held in hands and told a fairy tale. When we manage to recall this fundamental state and restore the feeling of trust and pureness, the world starts showing us its magnanimous side. My paintings are portals of returning to the pure child’s state of mind and to the joy of being.

Biography

Olena Kayinska graduated from the Department of Applied Linguistics of Lviv National Polytechnic University. After working in the IT industry for several years she transitioned to working as artist in 2012.  She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, art festivals and residencies. Her work is included both public and private collections in Ukraine, Germany, The Netherlands, United States, and Turkey.

Group Exhibitions:

2022
– The 30th anniversary of the Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, group art project, Osvitoria Hub, Kyiv, Ukraine
– One day after, group exhibition, Imagine Point Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
– Layers of sense, multimedia group exhibition, Panel Magazine, Kastner, Budapest, Hungary
– Christmas Art Fair, Riga, Latvia
– The Ukrainian art wall, Hundertwasser Train Station, Uelzen, Germany
– Walking home. Reconstruction, group pop-up exhibition, 31 Art Space, Lviv, Ukraine
– Fragility, group online exhibition, Meta senses gallery
– Between sky and earth, group exhibition, the center of contemporary art Solvay, Krakow, Poland
– Fight with Art, Global Online Charity Auction for Ukraine, Auction House Róża Wroniszewska, Krakow, Poland
– Lviv, Kyiv, Charkiw…Kunst, group exhibition, Buckeburg, Germany
- Lacuna Festivals International, Contemporary Art Festival: Clash 2022, Canary Islands
– Unconquerable Ukraine, All-Ukrainian cultural-art project by National Artists Union of Ukraine, exhibition halls of the Central Artist’s House, Kyiv
– Femme Fragile, Point of View digital interdisciplinary art zine, Vienna, Austria
– Time of war. Reflections…, group project, Dzyga gallery, Lviv, Ukraine
– Ukrainian Days, a cultural festival, Literaturhaus, Copenhagen, Denmark
– Modern Renaissance Magazine, Issue 11, Culturally Arts Collective
– War is not peace, a group exhibition, Espace29 Gallery, Bordeaux, France
– Volnanova, online exhibition – International art event, dedicated to the heroic confrontation of the Ukrainian nation against russian occupants in russian-Ukrainian war
– Volume 2 Issue 2: Spirituality, art book, The Mobile Library, the Aerogramme Center for Arts and Culture
– 31 March 2022 – Viewpoint, virtual exhibition, NAT gallery
– Warhol’s, contemporary art festival, House of Culture Nazva, Lviv, Ukraine

2021
– Closely related, charitable art project, National Museum in Lviv by Andrey Sheptytsky, Lviv, Ukraine
– The Sleepover, online project about art, memories, artifacts, and rituals
– Distance. Lacuna Festivals 2021, contemporary art festival, Canary Islands
– The Song Between Our Stars, a magazine that showcases poetry, fiction, and artworks
– coviDreams, book about dreams and the pandemic
– 31 March 2021 – The little stories we tell ourselves, online group exhibition, Gallery MUI
– Visiocracy, Modern Research Art Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine

2020
– exhibition of the results of the art residency Zhovkva-Art-Kreminna, Old Apothecary, Zhovkva, Ukraine
– Women Suffragists, Women Soaring Project, online exhibition, WSP Gallery
– In Time of Corona, juried online exhibition, 118 Art Gallery

2020
– Virtual naїve art museum
– Sail of Adventures, VII tourist festival of songs, photo, and cinema, participant of an art exhibition, Palace of Culture, Lutsk, Ukraine
– Lviv Art Week 2020, group exhibition, FESTrepublic, Lviv, Ukraine
– One day after…, International art project, Museum-exhibition center of modern art, Kyiv History Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
– V International Parajanov festival, group exhibition, curator and participant, Suputnyk, Lviv, Ukraine
– There is feminism… , group exhibition, Gender Culture Center, Kharkiv, Ukraine
- The LOST festivals, Annual International Contemporary Arts Festival, Lacuna Festivals, Canary Islands, Spain
– International Online Painting Exhibition 2020, under Jaleswar Art Foundation, India
– Two Dots, online exhibition, NV Gallery
– Post-COVID-19 Juried Online Art Show, Anton Art Center

2019
– Oscar’s Night, charitable evening by Rotary Club Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine
– AirGogolFest, contemporary art festival, Crystal factory, Vinnytsya, Ukraine
– Diffusion, the final exhibition of the art residency Diffusion, Kramatorsk Museum of Art, Kramatorsk, Ukraine
– Waves of Reality or Excitation in Travneve, final exhibition of the NVAIR 2019 program, Modern Art Research Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
– Diffusion, the final exhibition of the art residency Diffusion, Center of modern art by Arkhip Kuindzhi, Mariupol, Ukraine
– Social Volume, the final exhibition of the art residency by Helikon Art Center, Kara Sanat Atolyesi Gallery, Izmit, Turkey
– IV International Paradjanov Festival, group exhibition, curator and participant, Suputnik, Lviv, Ukraine
– Narrative about Freedom, the final exhibition of Nazar Voitovich Art Residency, gallery of the Zbarazh castle, Zbarazh, Ukraine
– Mamay. Prairie. Protection, an art exhibition in the framework of the history-cultural festival Mamay-fest under the aegis of National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Museum of History of Kamyanske, Kamyanske, Ukraine
– The Shadow of Dream* cast upon Giardini della Biennale in Venice
– Lviv Art Days, contemporary art exhibition, Lvivarnya, Lviv, Ukraine
– Charitable auction by Ukrainian Doctors Union, Lviv, Ukraine

2018
– ІІІ International Paradjanov Festival, art exhibition, Suputnik, Lviv, Ukraine
– New Wave Exhibition vol.3, contemporary art festival, FESTrepublic, Lviv, Ukraine

2016
– The Journey for the Inner Light, group exhibition, First Lviv Media Center, Lviv, Ukraine

Art Residencies:

2022 – Art residency Aura of the city. Evacuated, curator and resident artist, Svalyava, Ukraine
2021 – Art residency Aura of the city. Checkpoint, Starobilsk, Ukraine
2020 – Art residency Zhovkva-Art-Kreminna, Zhovkva monastery of Fathers Vasylians, Zhovkva, Ukraine
2020 – Parajanov art residency, curator and participant, Suputnyk, Lviv, Ukraine
2019 – Diffusion, international art residency, Mariupol, Ukraine
2019 – Helikon Art Center, art residency, Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey
2019 – International Art camp of Chorna Tysa SILVER LAND-ART 2019, Chorna Tysa village, Ukraine
2019 – Nazar Voitovich Art Residency, Travneve village, Ternopil region, Ukraine

Workshops and Conferences:

2022 – Places in changes, workshop on topical transdisciplinary practices for artists, Hnat Hotkevich Palace, Lviv, Ukraine
2022 – Course Basics of drawing: theory and practice, the center of education CE, Urban Library, Lviv, Ukraine
2022 – Artists in war, program by Jam Factory Art Center, Lviv, Ukraine
2021 – Manufacture of projects Pidzamche ultimately!, series of trainings on the engagement of resources and project management
2020 – Counter-territories, an international urban and art competition digital workshop, Tajarrod Architecture and Art Foundation
2020 – Healing with the Arts, online course, University of Florida