Artist Iuliia Bodnarchuk - Critical analysis by Timothy Warrington

CHIANCIANO ART MUSEUM

Critical Analysis Artist: Iuliia Bodnarchuk Art Critic: Timothy Warrington

ECAC

European Confederation of Art Critics

Critical Analysis Artist: Iuliia Bodnarchuk Art Critic: Timothy Warrington

The Museum The Museum of Art of Chianciano hosts a series of collections ranging from Neolithic and Asiatic to Contemporary art. There are approximately a thousand works on display.

Visitors are able to view paintings and sculptures by artists such as Tom Nash, Salvador Dali, Sir Henry Moore, Frances Turner, Mario Schifano, Damien Hirst, Brian Willsher and Albert Louden, drawings by the likes of Magritte, Guttuso and Munch; historical works from Royal Collections and original etchings by masters such as Dürer and Rembrandt.

The museum is known for organising annual international events, including the Chianciano International Art Award and the Biennale of Chianciano.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) “Joachim and the Angel” Original woodcut, circa 1504

Sir Henry Moore (1898-1986) “Head” Bronze Sculpture

“Fear(has big eyes)” 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 75 cm

by Iuliia Bodnarchuk

The Critic Timothy Warrington was born in Birmingham in 1944 and is a critical writer and curator based in London.

Mr. Warrington’s career has taken him all around the world in the search for art to exhibit in London.

He was part of the organisation that hosted the largest and most important exposition of Bulgarian art ever curated outside Bulgaria, showing 300 artists. The exhibition was hosted in collaboration with the Bulgarian Embassy in London and was inaugurated by the Bulgarian Ambassador Mr Stancoff.

The Slovenian Printmakers Exhibition was another reminder of the wonderful talent that Timothy brought to London, artists that are recognised and respected all around the world. “Italian Views” at the Lord Leighton Museum, curated by Timothy, was also a great success and a spotlight into contermporary Italian Art from institutions such as the Academy of Fine Art in Florence, Academy of Fiorino in Florence and The Academy of Fine Art in Rome.

Mr Warrington has curated numerous books and writes opinions and exhibition critiques in the UK and the USA. Notably, he was responsible for the the main publication related to Brian Willsher’s Bronzes, an artist who taught at the Tate and was praised by Sir Henry Moore as an artistic genius.

Timothy’s critical writing is very sophisticated - he has the power to translate the artist’s thoughts to the viewer with extreme clarity and competence.

He was a member of the jury of Chianciano International Art Award alongside people like Gerard Bruneau who started his career wih Andy Warhol.

“Almost Two Years” 2014 Oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

by Iuliia Bonarchuk

The Artist Iuliia Bodnarchuk is an all-accomplished artist. A photographer, a poetess, a painter. An original human being, who is lead by her domineering emotions, in order to give herself completely to art. Inspired by her family, her son, books and life itself, as she admits: “I believe in Art, because Art is all my life”.

Born in 1984 in the USSR, her education was primarily provided by her family, who created an environment full of cultural and intellectual stimulation that deeply affected her feeling for and perception of life: European culture and music, as well as English, American and French classic literature were a consistent part of Bodnarchuk’s heritage. Influenced by Pushkin and Byron, she started to compose intimate poems but it was the premature loss of her father and the consequent immense heartbreak that prompted Bodnarchuk to paint. The solitude she felt, sharpened by her mother’s departure to London, was slowly softened by the discovery and the pleasure of painting. Graduating with honours from the Ivano-Frankivsk State Medical University, Ukraine, her artistic work was sidelined by her work as a dentist. Inevitably this proved frustrating until finally becoming a full-time artist.

Self-taught, far from the dogmas of the art schools, Bodnarchuk’s work developed through experimentation and trial and error, which she considers creative and exciting; she developed new styles and techniques, from watercolours and gouaches to ‘mastihin’ (using the palette knife to apply paint), before discovering her favorite media, oil. Inspired by a trip to Germany, the artist also experimented with motion photography.

Iuliia Bodnarchuk describes her style as “intellectual aesthetics”, because as she explains “all beauty that’s shown on my works goes through dozens of prisms of emotions, comparisons and analysis”. She is deeply influenced by the works of artist Cy Twombley and the installations of Gillian Wearing, added to which her recent trip to Italy has been an infinite source of inspiration.

“Killing Memories” (don’t come so close) 2014 Oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm

by Iuliia Bodnarchuk

The Critique If one were able to personify the meaning of art, Iuliia Bodnarchuk, would be a perfect candidate. Art is within her, art is her companion and will continue to be her soulmate for the rest of her life. Through the moments of joy and times of sadness, what makes Iuliia a true artist is her ability to use art as the language for her emotions, a translation of feeling into an expressive force for which words would not suffice. In fact, Bodnarchuk’s passionate and transmissive energy wonderfully echoes the eloquent words of Edgar Degas, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

The viewer is engaged with an atmosphere rich with meaning. We encounter the manifestation of the artist’s subconscious mind and meet the anonymous figures that reside in her intellect, figures with no faces and no sound. In essence, these paintings transmit a strong sense of silence, people in the same place, but in different universes, figures seemingly distant from one another, but bonded in spirit.

In her painting “Perfect Love,” the lovers are unable to speak, nor can they see and the spectator momentarily shares this reality; a juxtaposition of a tragic past and an uncertain future. In other compositions, however, we are faced with subtle optimism embodied by flowers and nature, graceful petals at peace with the world and their surroundings, albeit overshadowed by sadness, and constantly immersed in the magical mystery conveyed by Iuliia’s mind.

From an art history perspective, there are strong elements of expressionism, but what is apparent is that Bodnarchuk is an artist that is in constant evolution.

This transformation is based on the intensity of feeling, fervently captured on canvas in an explosion of the artist’s soul. Yet the explosion is not uncontrolled, rather we witness a contained and articulated expression of the artist’s thoughts. We are constantly challenged with a window into a an unknown and secret world and left without the key as the story unfolds in our minds and imagination. In fact, there are infinite keys that lead to thousands of realities, each time we observe a piece.

Bodnarchuk is a very talented artist and her work sheds light on many elements related to humanity, love and relationships. She is an artist that tells a story with her heart, in a beautiful language without words, a manifestation of the creative fire and determined spirit that forms her as a person and an artist.

Timothy Warrington European Confederation of Art Critics

“Dirty Flowers” (at the end of love) 2014 Oil on canvas 70 x 80 cm

by Iuliia Bodnarchuk

“Perfect Love” 2014 Oil on canvas 70 x 60 cm

by Iuliia Bodnarchuk

Gagliardi Art & Partners www.gagliardi.co.uk