Viktoriya Rudneva’s one-woman show, Let’s Talk About Summer, has opened at the Iryna Gallery. The exhibition displays watercolors, pastels, and gouache paintings by the Kyiv-based artist.
This is not even Turgenev’s Month in the Country but literally a summer at the dacha with an almost completely observed unity of space. In other words, the artist never takes the action out of the confines of house and garden. Even things that obviously cannot be part of this space seem nothing but a view seen if not through the window, then over the fence or through the open wicket (The Pond or Quite Haven). After all, any part of the yard can give occasion to pick up a brush: Lilies or Pink Poppies, not to mention a cozy grapes pergola (Dacha Motif, Noon, or Afternoon). The house itself, scantily lit and cool, can boast a bouquet of asters, dish full of grapes, and, finally, a mirror with a shy reflection of Viktoriya herself (Self-Portrait with Asters). Equally constant are other inhabitants of this tiny world with their books, guitars, chaise lounges, and true companion, Molly the poodle. This is how they while away the endless summer day, with no thought of what might lie over the horizon or, even more, attempts to find it out.
