Mykola Zhuravel

Enlightenment of being

Artist statement

I had a desire to create as a child. As a little boy, I designed models of airplanes, sculpted various shapes, and drew. But it was book graphics that became the cornerstone of my work, taught me to think comprehensively. Therefore in painting, as well as in levkas, objects of the image are interpreted graphically, the graphics get color. I am constantly experimenting, synthesizing materials and techniques, discovering their maximum potential in the plastic solution of the problem I set myself. But the love of kinship and complex perception is manifested not only in the combination of the above, "material" means, but also in the thematic aspect. I work with the imagination to create deep paintings that are mostly representative, but with elements of abstraction. The world born in this way is a realm of harmony and warmth. This is where the life of my characters takes place, sometimes naive, sometimes a little sad.

Mykola Zhuravel

M. Zhuravel is an artist in whose hands art acquires depth and transfers to another dimension.  With his works he tries to bring to consciousness information, vision of the world around him, everything that a person does not notice, loses for himself, "drowning" in everyday life. The dominant feature of creativity is the ability to extract from the instant husk the main thing that can not be told and visualized, that can only be experienced.  When we look at his things - whether graphics, or sketches, or paintings, or the agitated surface - the levkas, then you see a manifestation of some extraordinary human ability to be primarily a spiritual creature, and then you realize what they should look like - these are rare manifestations of the real  art.

Daria Tishchenko-Zhuravel


Ukrainian artist Mykola Zhuravel breaks the boundaries between painting and sculpture, performance and installation art. Zhuravel turns to nature to create thriving monuments to man’s links to the Earth itself. He searches for compatibility between Earth and mankind, while pointedly making reference to the obstacles that human beings have placed in the way of a harmonious existence. Zhuravel’s ambitious style results in a remarkable series of living images of a visionary utopia. By using levkas, a traditional primer employed by icon painters, Zhuravel unites the legacies of Byzantine icon painting with his contemporary painterly technique. The result, richly vibrant and inventive contemporary works that emerge as modern-day icons.