Still life with sunflowers, 2020

Yaroslav Leonets  

I'm a modern artist from Ukraine. 

A few words about me and my life. Since childhood, I have felt the necessity to articulate my feelings in a nonverbal way because l could not express myself with words. I spent a lot of time alone with my thoughts and feelings. And this made me find a way to communicate with the world, telling about my feelings and personal glance at it. But gestures, facial expressions, and physiognomy were not enough to speak with the world. I could not convey what I saw around but I've tried visual art and gradually through various artistic images I found a way to reveal and express what I really feel. I have always been inspired by the search of new forms of communication with the world; therefore, my childhood research has turned into the work of my life. As an artist, I see myself in various forms of art like painting, graphics, and sculpture. I experiment a lot, looking for new ways to convey the reality in which I live. I often synthesize various materials. I graduated: the Kharkiv Art College, the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts, easel painting, and the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv gave me a MA degree in faculty of monumental painting. I've been working lately in the genre of paintings and graphics. In my artworks, I strive to obtain the beauty of nature and human interaction with nature. I also work on social issues, topics that address inner experiences and that highlight our connection to nature and identification. Environmental issues and legal issues. Through this figurative topics, l express my emotions and feelings. 

Credo: Art is the way of subjective communication with the surrounding world. Using various visual means to express unique, clean, childlike feelings. 

2024 – «BAZAR», Art Museum, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine. 2024 – «Unconquered cities of Ukraine», NUAU, Kiev, Ukraine. 2024 – «LAND, SEA, AND SKY», Amy Kaslow Gallery, Bethesda, USA. 2024 – «Atelier of dreams», Ukrainian House, Kiev, Ukraine. 2024 – «Rooting», Brama Gallery, Cherkasy, Ukraine. 2023 – «The forever now», 67yorkstreetgallery, London, United Kingdom. 2023 – Art fair Art Noord V, Museum Belvedere, Heerenveen-Oranjewond, Netherland. 2023 – «Alife», Designat Gallery, Berlin, Germany. 2023 – «Summer exhibition», Galerie LYTS, Woudsend, Netherland. 2023 – «Cosmogony of meanings», Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art Korsakov, Lutsk, Ukraine. 2023 – «International Biennial of Painting», National Art Museum, Chisinau, Moldova. 2023 – «Day after Day», Galerie@19, Padeborn, Germany. 2023 – Personal exhibition «Landscapes of the native land», Art Museum, Vinnytsia, Ukraine. 2023 – Personal exhibition «Documenting landscapes: Ukraine`s vanishing terrain», Amy Kaslow Gallery, Bethesda, USA. 2022 – «One day after» Imagine Point Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine. 2022 – «Ukraine from Tripillia to the present», NUAU, Kyiv, Ukraine. 2022 – «CONFLICTED», The DRY/Paint Gallery, New York, USA. 2022 – «SUPERNOVA. ART OF UKRAINE» («Unbreakable wall»), Art Center, Basel, Switzerland. 2022 – «Two Feet Summer Show», Houska Gallery, St. Louis, USA. 2022 – «Paints of the Flame of Hearts», Potocki Palace, Lviv, Ukraine. 2022 – Personal exhibition «From Ukraine With Love», The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d'Alene, USA. 2022 – Personal exhibition «Fairy or Spirit», Dzyga Art Center, Lviv, Ukraine. 2021 – «Mariupol. Sea city», project «Post Most», Hotel Continental, Mariupol, Ukraine. 2020 – «Anticipation + Immunity», Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art Korsakov, Lutsk, Ukraine. 2020 – Personal exhibition «Manifestation», Oblenergo center, Khmelnytsky, Ukraine. 2019 – Biennale in Venice The falling shadow of «Dreams» on the Giardini Gardens, Arsenale, Venice, Italy. 2019 – Anniversary All-Ukrainian Exhibition dedicated to the 175th anniversary of Repin, NUAU, Kharkiv, Ukraine. 2019 – «Waves of Reality / Excitement in Travneve», Institute of Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine. 2019 – «DIFFUSIONS», Kuindzhi Gallery, Mariupol, Ukraine. 2019 – Personal exhibition «Flare», Bunkermuz Gallery, Ternopil, Ukraine. 2019 – Biennale of Contemporary Art Bread, Hlebzavod, Kyiv, Ukraine. 2018 – «My Ukraine: Pain and Hope», Hanns Seidel Stiftung, Munich, Germany.