Olena Kayinska is an artist based in Lviv, Ukraine. She works in pure art techniques, paired with philosophical senses. She has participated in 40+ exhibitions and her paintings are kept in museum funds and private collections in Ukraine, Germany, United States, and Turkey.

From the Artist... I speak with my world in the language of colors and forms, and the feeling of the paint and brush is my pleasant addiction. The patience I require for the long hours of repetitive actions transforms into the intense energy and the joy of discovery of what I’ve created. When I start painting, I go as if with my eyes closed and find out what’s the story about only after I put the finishing touches. Storylines of the artworks come to me on their own, often inspired by books. Milorad Pavić, Gabriel García Márquez, Alessandro Baricco, Bruno Schulz filled that inner well, where the images of the future paintings come from. Self-taught as I am, I never dreamt that my passion and admiration for painting would turn into my way of life, would give meaning to my life.

My paintings-dreams take the observers inside, to the subconscious, to the core. Trying to find the inner self, the observer wanders through the imaginary world, fantastic forests, filled with symbolic images and archetypical symbols, inhabited with mysterious creatures, each of which provides a guide to the final destination – our heart. My aim is to make people happier.

My paintings show the endlessness of obvious and unobvious relationships in this world with the help of mysterious storylines with the metaphysical sense. Being the guide between the worlds, I mix reality and magic in a genuine meditative form of my witchcraft. Direct ascetism of the flat surfaces, completeness, and persuasiveness of the compositions, seamless statics, graphical coding of the deep sense into the schematic images, order, and rhythm of the painting focus the observer’s attention on what is underneath.

I want to return the observers to the pure, sincere, and spontaneous experience of the outer world, which we all had in our childhood. Children observe the world as it is, directly, without thinking. My paintings are childishly simple and straightforward. They help recall the child’s state of trust and safety, the state of interest in the world around, the state of fabulousness and love. As if you are being held in hands and told a fairy tale. When we manage to recall this fundamental state and restore the feeling of trust and pureness, the world starts showing us its magnanimous side. My paintings are portals of returning to the pure child’s state of mind and to the joy of being.