To reveal the invisible
Vira Yakymchuk is
a primarily self-taught artist born in 1990 in Husyatyn, an urban-type settlement
in the Ternopil Oblast, a western province of Ukraine. Her figurative paintings
are very oneiric, one could easily think that they are surreal, but in fact it
is her way to explain a most hidden side of reality through sensations,
thoughts, emotions and dreams. Natural motives are also very present in her art
as a representation of freedom in time and space, the perfect way for self-discovering
and communication between us and with our natural environment, and everything
with the purpose of showing us which we have become unable to see as the only way
to achieve a social change.
What
does the artistic creation mean to you?
I am an artist, and I love to stay in tune with my
creative side. To me art is any work resulting from the
reprocessing of perception, sensation and emotion into something having a
relationship of symbolic resonance with the original inspiration. In the end
art is probably whatever you make in that sense. We can express our feelings by regarding the world around us either by poetic or by descriptive meanings. Art is
something beautiful in thought, expression, and also for the sight.
You
are a completely self-taught artist. When and how did you feel that painting
was your way in life?
So,
I consider myself an absolute self-taught artist because I started with oil paints in 2010 and I felt it as a different world. At that time I studied at The Ukranian Catholic University, the "Art of Icon" programm about traditional paintings and two years later a painter from Turkey showed me the real
world of figurative art. He inspired me and I started to work more, as it was my
dream that turned into a reality. But everything around art had always been my
dream. The first time I realized it was when I was 5 years old when I went to a church
with my grandmother. I found there my paradise of painted walls and that was how I began to love art.
You
describe your art as classic presented in a contemporary way. Could you expand
this description?
I have worked this art style not so long. Gradually
I go forward to show my art a classic but presented in a modern
way. That means techniques, sensations, images, ideas, concepts,
thoughts, emotions and feelings that reflect objective reality experiences, where
nature allows us to give up time and space.
What
are your artistic influences or references?
That Turkish artist that I mentioned before, that I was lucky
to find. For me seeing his paintings is something extraordinary. Each time I look at his works
I have the feeling that I am stepping alongside him into a moment frozen in
time. He shows me the artistic world through his eyes.
But
now my references are people, nature, art, literature, music, dance and life. They are all are very
important for me, as they always have been since I was younger. I'm a self-taught painter and I spend a lot of time
seeking out diverse sources of inspiration.
Your
work is always figurative featuring mainly human bodies and nature elements.
How important is nature in your vision of existence?
Yes, my work is always figurative and features mainly
human bodies and nature elements. I love the human body,
feelings, emotions... that is beauty. I also use some pieces and materials to indicate that we
live right now.
We constantly need to remind how important is nature for each of us. To
understand this, you just need to look around to realize that importance, but unfortunately we
quickly forget it. Nature is our natural source of existence. It is not just a source of wealth, but also a source of
spiritual wealth. Without mentioning the aesthetic pleasure we can find in nature.
Man gets pleasure from watching the sun, the forest, one can see beautiful mountains and dense forests, blue seas and yellow sands. This
invaluable beauty that nothing else can surpass.
Do
you have a spiritual sense of existence?
Yes, I have an spiritual sense of existence and it is nothing else than the love that surrounds us. We always strive to unravel the
secret of our happiness, to know the beauty and the greatness of our soul. And
our whole being constantly reaches for something higher, and the unknown secret
that would have fed our tired body and soul. Following the inclinations of our nature you get often immersed in the world of positive feelings of delight
and pleasure. And so gradually these searches lead us to the world of eternal
goodness, the world of love. Only love make a human a real human and
nature gives us everything to feel it.
My spirituality is a creative focus, excitement, a
certain type of outlook, a relation with the absolute, to the world of nature,
society, other people, or with myself. To proceed from seeing a human as a
spiritual being means that we determine our absolute right to spiritual experience; to perceive our own life as a real entity on its own, and responsible of its implementation. The purpose of spirituality is to achieve harmony between
our lives and the world and leads forward towards some form of emotional and intuitive development, and to the vitality of its internal strength.
Do
you think that we have lost our connection with nature?
I grew up in a Ukrainian village, surrounded by trees,
flowers and animals of various species. Nature has always played
an important role in my life, inspiration and creativity. I share the beauty
and simplicity of the world as I see it myself. In my works I want to reflect
the inner world of any physical structure - the spiritual world of objects,
landscapes and people. Sometimes the idea of following picture ripen within a
few months. There are strings that connect different areas and layers of our
lives. I am bound by such threads of his job. I find them everywhere. My art -
it is the desire to express themselves and show me what I feel about the world
in which I live. Everything I do - it is the result of waves that resonate with
my soul. It - wave influence, knowledge, emotions and experiences that are
reflected in the works. My paintings - part of me. My creativity - this is my
way of saying to the world: "hope gives you wings and courage."
And
what have we lost with that disconnection?
I don't know, what we are lost with that
disconnection... because of this we can find a lot of answers, but sometimes
there are more questions.
It
is true that one can easily feel a dreamy atmosphere in the scenes you paint.
Where is the boundary between dream and reality for you?
I can easily feel a dreamy atmosphere in the scenes,
when I paint, when I am relaxed, when I sleep. Most often it is a
combination of imagination, the unconscious and repressed the place where
awareness and dream are intertwined, where strange things appear and suggest
the existence of a hidden peace, in all of us. Where the balance of illusion or
dream and reality is in equality, there arises a peace that brings us to peace.
At image of life, by contrast, excludes it, or else sees in it a unique
potential for the affirmation of life. I've always been inspired by dreams,
secrets, mysteriousness, nature it's a state of mind and the transformation of
desire.
Several
of your works are selfportraits or scenes that are defined around you. What
does your art show you about yourself?
Painting is a way of representing " what I am
" when I paint selfportrait, the way I react to what goes on around me,
but also how I think of the past and the future. To paint is to
reflect, to collect feelings, memories and to see what further insights I may
glean from them. I try to treasure the small things is life case that's what
life mostly is about my faith, my family, my freedom.
You
speak about a thirst of a social change. What kind of change are you thinking?
Is it also a personal change?
Through my work, I seek to reveal the invisible to the
eyes of the indifferent person: the need and thirst for a social change. But
life does not believe in the materialism, capitalism. It is good that it does
not believe in it, otherwise the whole world would be a great cemetery. So,
this nature that awakens our souls to the vast inner freedom, allows us to give
up time and space. The love a make to dream, then can grow within the soul to
become the supreme factor which determines the meaning of a person's life. My
purpose is to make whoever sees my painting aware of his need to love and to
give his love, and aware that beauty is summoning us. After all, a person's
ability to see around him, makes perfect peace in his soul and a sense of
oneness with nature, helps to understand himself and others better. So, a
personal my thoughts changing everyday.
Do
you have a spiritual sense of existence?
Yes.
Could
you explain me a sleepy dream?
The equation of dream and reality plays an important philosophical role in Taoism in which life should
be treated as a dream, but to dream should also be treated as a reality.
I think it is the philosophy of sleeping dreams, which in our time help to realize the vision, understand myself and even my lives, to find the truth in a never-ending stream of images and symbols. Very often I feel melancholy, fatigue, stress, falling in love, sadness, sorrow, and often it is the human condition, reflecting the mental anguish, cause drowsiness or, conversely, insomnia. In this case, the dream becomes a kind of necessity, the need of the soul, in a dream I am to philosophizing, looking for answers, I see the reasons for his state and at the same time become more sensitive to everything that happens around me. So, sleeping dreams are often the most filling, which helps me to live, feel and develop my vision, and hence strengthen my philosophy.
I think it is the philosophy of sleeping dreams, which in our time help to realize the vision, understand myself and even my lives, to find the truth in a never-ending stream of images and symbols. Very often I feel melancholy, fatigue, stress, falling in love, sadness, sorrow, and often it is the human condition, reflecting the mental anguish, cause drowsiness or, conversely, insomnia. In this case, the dream becomes a kind of necessity, the need of the soul, in a dream I am to philosophizing, looking for answers, I see the reasons for his state and at the same time become more sensitive to everything that happens around me. So, sleeping dreams are often the most filling, which helps me to live, feel and develop my vision, and hence strengthen my philosophy.
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero