The most characteristic feature of Olena Horhol’s paintings is certainly their clear, rough texture. It is extremely difficult for the viewer to resist the temptation to come into physical contact with them, to get to know them not only by sight, but also by touch. The viewer wants to run his finger along the thickening of the paint, to feel on his fingertips the irregularities, bulges and concavities from which the composition is woven. The word “woven” does not appear here by accident. The source of the use of this characteristic, expressive painting method can be found in the education and artistic practice of Olena Horhol, who graduated in the field of artistic textiles.

The artist’s paintings certainly belong to the circle of contemporary landscape painting. However, Olena Horhol makes a very distinctive, personal interpretation of this ancient theme, often taken up in art.

Her compositions are minimalistic and synthetic. Sometimes in her paintings we recognize the horizon line, the boundlessness of the empty sky and the snow-covered earth. There is a lack of unnecessary details, the composition is clear, clean, calm. It is more common, however, for the artist to depict only plants – lush bushes, shimmering with many colors, built up from elongated, convex strips of painting matter. In these synthetic canvases, references to the surrounding reality are very distant. These paintings become an open space in which the artist conducts formal experiments bringing her art closer to the world of abstraction.

Marcin Krajewski, Pragaleria

Artist Statement

I make landscapes.

I create things which I can see around me. It’s pretty obvious but not everyone notices it.

Sometimes I merely document a scene. On other occasions, I attempt to “cut out” the most unnoticeable, unimportant piece and make it self-sufficient, put it into the spotlight. Often, my works contain a composition, a pattern of light and shade, shape and form, color and contrast. But sometimes, a surface is enough (ground, snowfield, the reflection in the water). The challenge is to capture details in a minimalistic composition. To do that, I use texture – thin, fat, protruding strokes of paint – to emphasize the shape, to capture the color.

I have a diploma of a textile artist. During my studies, I used to work with fabric and filaments. Now, I try to mix these skills with painting. This way, a texture of a brushwork looks like a set of threads. I weave a tapestry on canvas.

My goal is to perfect my pieces as much as I can, so people realize that this is not a low-effort painting, not an etude, but a carefully prepared, enhanced composition.

Like a tapestry.

Artist CV

Born in 1994, in Ukraine. Graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Art, Faculty of Textile Design, diploma in the studio of Prof. Viktoria Dubrovyk (2015). In 2013, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (student exchange program lasting 1 semester), among others, in the studio of Prof. Włodzimierz Cygan and PhD Izabela Wyrwa.

The artist has had a number of individual and group exhibitions. She was a part of the team creating the first full-length painted animated movie "Loving Vincent".

Olena creates in her own technique using oil on canvas. The most characteristic feature of Olena's work is its very expressive, rough texture. Her compositions are "woven" from all these irregularities, concavities and dents. The sources of this method can be found in the tapestries that the artist wove during her studies.

Currently lives in Wroclaw, Poland.

Group Exhibitions

2023
  • - Spring Salon, gallery Operis Artis, Antonin, Poland
2022
  • - Desire for happiness, Vinci Art Gallery, Poznan, Poland
  • - Open Art, Art Number 23, Salzburg, Austria
  • - Roj, gallery Operis Artis, Antonin, Poland
  • - Spring Salon, gallery Operis Artis, Antonin, Poland
  • - My Zakopane, Municipal Art Gallery, Zakopane, Poland
  • - Athens Open Art, Art Number 23, Athens, Greece
  • - My freedom - intervention exhibition, Museum of Factory, Lodz, Poland
2020
  • - Constellation - Beyond the Horizon, Gallery of Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Toruń, Poland
  • - Portfolio of desire, Dom Trzeżwości, Poznan, Poland
2019
  • - Constellation - Beyond the Horizon, Gallery of Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Toruń, Poland
  • - My Zakopane, Municipal Art Gallery, Zakopane, Poland
  • - Summer Salon, Stalowa gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2018
  • - Art Confrontations, TEST gallery, Warsaw, Poland
  • - National biennale of art - 45 Winter salon, Elektrownia - Centre of Contemporary Art, Radom, Poland
  • - 100 paintings for 100th Independence Day of Poland, cultural center Dwór Artusa, Toruń, Poland
  • - Sielpia-Końskie, reporting exhibition of art camp, Gallery DEK, Końskie, Poland
  • - Loving Vincent, exhibition of paintings from movie "Loving Vincent", Książ Castle, Wałbrzych, Poland
  • - Vincent at Rzeszów, The Cultural Incubator of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, Poland
  • - Valley of Tysmienica, reporting exhibition of art camp, Gallery Oranżeria, Radzyn Podlaski, Poland
  • - In anticipation for Oscars, exhibition of paintings from movie Loving Vincent, Innovation Center PRZEJŚCIE, Wroclaw, Poland
2017
  • - The Loving Vincent Exhibition, Gallery KINO DCF, Wroclaw, Poland
  • - The Loving Vincent Exhibition, Het Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
  • - In love with Van Gogh, Museum of Factory, Lodz, Poland
  • - Valley of Tyśmienica, reporting exhibition of art camp, Mansion in Belczac, Poland
2016
  • - Pink bulldozer - 2016, Museum of literature, Odessa, Ukraine
  • - Nationwide Exhibition of fine and decorative art, Ukraine National Academy of Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • - Van Gogh. Reminiscence, Museum of Ukrainian Paintings, Dnipro, Ukraine
2015
  • - Urban Sketchers in Lviv, manufactory of the candles, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Minitextile, gallery Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Textylizm, Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Memory of textiles, 17 international exhibition of textile miniatures, gallery Umelka, Bratislava, Slovensko
  • - Memory of textiles, 17 international exhibition of textile miniatures, gallery Diamant, Prague, Czech Republic
  • - Nationwide art exhibition for artist's day, Central House of Artists, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • - Hortobady, reporting exhibition of art camp, Central Library, Debrecen, Hungary
  • - Teacher and student. Computer and textile, museum in Lviv Academy of Arts, Ukraine
  • - Autumn salon, Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Lviv by young eyes, Unit Credit Bank, Lviv, Ukraine
2014
  • - Textile+Minitextile, Palace of Arts, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Les Sketchers de Lviv exposition, Alliance française de Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Lviv by young eyes, Unit Credit Bank, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Autumn Salon, Palace of Arts, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Autumn of Tektura, Museum of ideas, Lviv, Ukraine
2013
  • - Private, Primus gallery, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Mini textile, Museum of ideas, Lviv, Ukraine
  • - Crystal palette, Art-center Ja.Gretera, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • - Art without museums, Lanivtsi, Ukraine

Individual Exhibitions

2022
  • - Trees, Kaflarnia, Wadowice, Poland
2021
  • - Flowering, Art Gallery Poznanska 24, Warsaw, Poland
2020
  • - Proximity and Distance (with Ewa Tresenberg), Gallery Zamek, Szczecinek, Poland
2018
  • - Way home, Gallery ODRY, Kock, Poland
  • - Way home, Gallery ORANZERIA, Radzyn Podlaski, Poland
2015
  • - THEY, ComMuna, Lviv, Ukraine
2014
  • - Land, Bunkermuz gallery, Ternopil, Ukraine