“The poetry gave birth to pictures: the poems brought artistic images with them, becoming either paintings or book illustrations. These images produced music and songs. One couldn’t exist without the other; everything melted together, forming some kind of synthesis. I cannot identify myself as solely a poet, artist, or musician. Just a creative person.” This is how Anzhelika Cherniakhivska, whose one-woman show opened at the Griffin Gallery, describes herself. The exhibition is called Images of Inspiration.
In any case, Cherniakhivska chose to display only her painting and graphic works at the Griffin exhibition. The fact that the Elf group led by the artist performed romantic ballads set to her lyrics at the presentation changes nothing. Anzhelika Cherniakhivska’s paintings and drawings are, if not self-sufficient (however, only the author herself is in a position to decide this), then at least sufficient to make an impression. Their heroes are fairies and dragons, elves and unicorns, flowers and stars. Simultaneously, all this is not about escaping into some dream but rather a conscious choice made many years ago, somewhere along the vague line between childhood and youth, and a categorical disavowal of the escape from dreams, which is considered necessary at this age. Perhaps this is why all the marvelous characters appearing in Cherniakhivska’s painting and graphics (as well as poetry and music) do not acquire a more solid mystic status, preserving their most charming trait, their undisguised and very natural fantastic quality.
