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- Inhale
Matienko Maria
“Inhale” was created during the war and is dedicated to the state when you are immersed in events, like being submerged in water, and to regain composure and continue living and acting, “Hope” is needed. It is precisely “Hope” that becomes the breath of air keeping one afloat.
Since 2014, I began working with ballpoint pens. Since then, I have increasingly fallen in love with this material. In seeking answers to questions that troubled me, I realized that at least in art, it makes sense to start from the beginning, with the simplest elements: dot, line, and spot. Starting from the Covid period, and especially now, during the full-scale invasion, it has become evident that the world we lived in, or our perception of it as whole and conditionally harmonious, is shattering into pieces.
This feeling of shattered glass flying through the air is, for me, perfectly conveyed by the ballpoint pen, with its rigid cold lines that ruthlessly leave their mark on paper, remaining forever like sharp cuts that cannot be erased or softened. My ballpoint pen works tell the story of a world broken into fragments, and from these fragments, I try to piece together a new reality and record it as a new epic for a new time and a new world. Thus, it is entirely natural and logical to use office paper and a ballpoint pen. My works are like manuscripts, where the images serve as texts.
Maria Matienko
Maria Matienko was born in 1980 in Kyiv, Ukraine
2003 – graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAAFA), Faculty of Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine
For 12 years she studied at the studio of Mykola Shkaraputa, a student and close friend of Fedir Krychevskyi.
2007-2008 – internship in Germany and Switzerland. Focused on contemporary abstract painting and organic design.
2013 – joint exhibition at the “Venezia Gallery di Giorgio Ghidoli” within the framework of the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
Since 2014 – participation in the international painting plein airs “Javorna” in Drinice, Slovakia
Since 2015 – regular participation in group exhibitions in “Karas Gallery”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 – participation in the international project in “Mythra Gallery”, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2016 – personal exhibition “Mixed Feelings” in the House of Education and Culture MK, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 – joint exhibition at Bakerhouse Gallery, Graz, Austria
2016 – publication about the work in the magazine “KultKult”, December 2016, issue No. 4, Kyiv, Ukraine
Since 2017 – regular participation in group exhibitions and happenings of the gallery “Ukrmakrovesvit”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 – joint exhibition at Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 – joint exhibition at Gio Art Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2021 – participation in the international annual exhibition NORDART 2021, Büdelsdorf, Germany
2021 – participation in the project “Labyrinths of Discourse”, Institute of Contemporary Art Problems of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Since 2022 – regular participation in the projects of the White World Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 – joint exhibition at the Art Space Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
Since 2023 – membership in the National Union of Artists of Ukraine
2023 – joint exhibition “BeLive” Volkskundemuseum, Vienna, Austria
2024 – joint exhibition «Ukrainian Diary», National Centre «Ukrainian House», Kyiv, Ukraine
2024 – joint exhibition «Matter Matters», National Centre «Ukrainian House», Kyiv, Ukraine
2024 – participation «International Art Fair of Alternative Art TRYST» , TAM Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, USA
The works are in private collections in Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Portugal.
