“Tales for Adults” is a show featuring the diminutive sculptures of Natalia Derevianko-Mudruk, which has just opened at the small Triptych Gallery. This is the first solo exhibit for the young Kyivan artist.
“Natalia graduated from the National Art Academy, and she completed her postgraduate studies. She is best described as ‘straight A’ in every respect, and this is clearly apparent in the meticulous care with which she handles every detail of her works,” said the gallery’s director Tetiana Savchenko.
The artist is a romantic and a dreamer. Her images are tiny fairytale figurines. Sad grotesque is her forte. She is attracted by the magical world of adventures in which her characters exist: “They live their lives in our big, real world and I’m simply observing them. Like us, they dream of love and set off in search of happiness. They dream of victories, discoveries, and glory. They’re playing the same games as we grownups,” the artist explained.
Derevianko-Mudruk’s compositions are based not on intrigue and action but on a quest for the synthesis of nature and man. The numerous bronze accents are dispersed, so you have the realism of luxuriously heavy fruits of the earth along with graceful, refined, fragile miniature human beings. There is great whimsicality and finesse in the plasticity of the artist’s works.
“This exhibit is conceptually important. There are two kinds of art: the fine arts, where there is always an element of pictorial art, and “transformative” art, which transforms the surrounding environment and makes it warm, inspired, beautiful, and sophisticated,” commented art expert Nina Velihotska.
“Here you find both these kinds of art. Michelangelo said that sculpture is the blossoming of architecture, while painting is the blossoming of sculpture. The works of Natalia Derevianko-Mudruk illustrate the sophisticated transition from the plasticity of sculpture to the elements of pictorial art.”
