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- Artists' works
- The Last Day of Pompeii from the series Paper Architecture
Matienko Maria
The work explores themes of fatal inevitability and the aesthetics of decay. It reinterprets the classical narrative of catastrophe through radical minimalism and the strict graphic language of ballpoint pen. Its large scale, constructed from fragile sheets of office paper, embodies the vulnerability of civilization.
- Monochromatic tension: The intense red covering the entire surface evokes a suffocating heat and ash-strewn sky. The color acts as a “visual hum” of millions of strokes, each representing an irreversible moment in time.
- Geometry of fracture: Sharp diagonal lines cut across the surface like tectonic shifts or cracks in crumbling architecture. These “slashes” on paper symbolize events that cannot be erased from memory.
- Shadows of the past: Dark, amorphous patches emerging through the crimson background suggest charred remains or voids left by people and structures, blurring the line between figurative imagery and abstract chaos.
- Document of the everyday: The use of A4 office paper and tape highlights the irony between “stable” life and sudden disaster. Architecture, which should protect, itself becomes jagged debris.
The Last Day of Pompeii functions as a manuscript of irreversibility. The work does not attempt to reconstruct what has been destroyed; rather, it captures the very moment of deconstruction, where chaos becomes a new form of order and pain becomes the foundation of memory.
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.
