Artist Statement
Alena Kuznetsova is a professional multidisciplinary artist born in 1986, who lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Participated in Ukrainian and international shows, author of 14 solo projects. Her creative work includes painting, graphics, land art, video, installation, photo, and ceramic sculpture. Alena’s artistic practice changed a lot since 2022.
She’s been focusing mainly on abstract painting and color research from 2008 to 2021. Her art has included research projects on social and ecological topics since 2015 from time to time, but it changed critically with the full-scale invasion. Alena came out to her international audience and colleagues with a war agenda and began volunteering a lot as a talking head and in written interviews spreading the word. Then she realized a woman artist could and should be heard. The artist came back to social issues in several recent projects since 2022: Ukraine is Me; To Scatter Stones; To the River, to the Forest; Flowers or Explosions; Relations with the Image.
In her artistic practice of the last years, Alena explores the concepts of nature, transformations, femininity, fragility, life, and death. She endeavors to find a balance between humans and nature and the role of female artists, felt in the context of events taking place in Ukraine. In her artistic practice, the artist deals with such issues, as self-identification in society, and the role of women in art.
Kuznetsova Porfolio+CV (PDF)
Education:
2022
- Lecture cycle “Art in Times of Crisis” (Dr Emma Mahony), NCAD, Dublin.
2015
- School of Visual Communications, Kyiv.
- The New Art School (new media), Kyiv.
2014-2015
- School of Contemporary Art, MARI, Kyiv.
2003-2008
- KNUBA, Master’s degree, specialty Fine Arts, Kyiv.
1998-2002
- Children’s art school, Svitlovodsk, Kirovograd region.
Selected solo shows:
2023
- Flowers or Explosions, Forsa Gallery, Kyiv (UA)
2022
- Relations with the Image, Imagine Point Gallery, Kyiv (UA)
2021
- Gamma, Ornament Art Space, Kyiv (UA)
2019
- Mechanical Ballet. Act 3, French Institute, Kyiv (UA)
- Trajectory, Mironova Foundation, Kyiv (UA)
2018
- Flux, Triptych: Global Arts Workshop, Kyiv (UA)
- Mechanical Ballet, White World, Kyiv (UA)
2017
- Gravity, Nebo Art Gallery, Kyiv (UA)
- Kill bill, America House, Kyiv (UA)
- What color do you see?, MASLO the gallery, Khmelnytstyi (UA)
2016
- Nature of sensations, Museum of Kyiv (UA)
- In Colour, Spivakovska ArtEgo, Kyv (UA)
Selected group shows:
2024
- Sci-Fi art, Portal 11, Kyiv (UA)
2023
- Ukrainian 12, Portraits International Gallery, Brussels (BE)
- Concentration of the Will, M17, Kyiv (UA)
- Awakening, Museum of Kyiv (UA)
2022
- From Ukraine with love, Gallerie Lorien, Copenhagen (DK)
- The Art of Resistance, Sala d’Exposicions Municipal, Valencia (SP)
- And Get Up!, Gallery Lavra, Kyiv (UA)
- Wartime. Reflections…, Dzyga, Lviv (UA)
2020
- Objects art prize, nominees’ exhibition, Chocolate House, Kyiv (UA)
- Habitat. Manifesto 2020, Lavra Gallery, Kyiv (UA)
2019
- Collective art show, Van Gogh Art Gallery, Madrid (ES)
- Verbalization, Lavra Gallery, Kyiv (UA)
- Objects art prize, nominees’ exhibition, Chocolate House, Kyiv (UA)
2018
- Values on the way, Lite-haus Galerie + Projektraum, Berlin.
- Exposure, AkT, Kyiv (UA)
2017
- Marry me!, Zenko Foundation, Museum of Kyiv, Koruna (UA)
Residences, competitions, and art fairs:
2024-2025 – Serendipity, art laboratory, Port of Culture, Kyiv (UA)
2024-2025 – Martin Roth Initiative, online, Leipzig (GE)
2022 – Artists at Risk residency, AICA, Dublin (IE).
2022 – Cultural Traffic residency, Vyzhnitsa (UA).
2020 – Objects Art Prize (2nd), Chocolate House, Kyiv (UA).
2019 – Art Bodensee , Dornbirn, Austria. Provenance: Van Gogh Gallery , Madrid (SP).
2019 – Objects Art Prize, Chocolate House, Kyiv (UA).
Her works are in private and corporate collections in Ukraine, France, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, Italy, Czechia, Spain, Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, and Ireland.
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Kuznetsova Porfolio+CV (PDF)