Ukrainian artist Alyona Krutogolova creates her own artistic language based on simplified forms, deliberate decorativeness, and an ironic worldview.
In her work, she synthesizes the traditions of Ukrainian folk art and elements of naive art with a modern artistic eye, expanding the boundaries of her personal creative space, and populating it with cute and colorful characters - pet hedgehogs, dreamy floral cats, wandering sea cows, harvest hens, and spotted owls.
She welcomes us to her "happy island" to escape the difficulties, stresses, and troubles that populate our modern life. In our day to day lives, we desperately need that simplicity, joy - and a bit of kind and harmless silliness - which adds new colors and opens a fresh perspective.
The colorful heroes of her paintings declare their position to the viewer: it is difficult to blame the universe for its imperfections when a pretzel, a cup of tea, or a bouquet of daisies are all balancing on your head at that very moment.
Life is joy (every time we inhale, and especially every time we exhale)!
And that’s why we need to live every moment carefully and attentively, just like children when they eat cake, with reverence and while slightly protecting the plate with their hand, because... you never know :)
Maria Prymachenko
"Maria Prymachenko with her bright, decorative, completely imaginary animals."
Maria Prymachenko (1909 - 1997) was a Ukrainian folk art painter who worked in the naïve art style. A self-taught artist, she completed only 4 years of school and lived her entire life in a small village outside of Kyiv.
Maria's first art project was when she painted her neighbor's house with blue clay she found. As a form of payment, she received a pig that helped her entire family survive during the Holodomor famine.
In 1936, after the Ukrainian Exhibition of Folk Art she became famous and in 1937 he works were exhibited at the International Exhibition in Paris.
"I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian." said Pablo Picasso after seeing her work in Paris. While Marc Chagall was so inspired by her that he called his own images of fantastical creatures “the cousins of the strange beasts of Maria Prymachenko.”
Maria's depiction of the animal world is distinguished by fantastic, fairy-tale, and folklore motifs.
Polina Raiko
Polina Raiko (1928 - 2004) was a Ukrainian naïve painter who started painting her property at the age of 69. Polina lived in the ancient Cossack village of Oleshki, near Kherson, on the mighty Dnieper .
Tragedy struck Polina's family in 1994 when her daughter dies in a car accident and a year after, her husband passed away. Polina’s son was later sent to prison where he died.
From 1998 to 2004, using her pension money she bought cheap supplies and without any education began painting. She covered the walls, ceilings, the kitchen stove, all the outbuildings, fences, and gates. To avoid the judgement of her neighbours, Polina painted with the shutters closed in the evening under the glow of her lamps. She sang and shed tears as she painted, bringing alive scenes from her life, releasing herself from the emotions of pain and loneliness and transforming her grief into joyful expressions. A testament to the healing power of art.
The murals of which were severely damaged during the Russian-Ukrainian war, when the house was flooded after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka reservoir.
Tellingly, her last name "Rai" means "Heaven" or "Paradise" in Ukrainian.
Kateryna Bilokur
Kateryna Bilokur (1900 - 1961) was a Ukrainian folk artist, painter and poet born in Poltava.
Here's how Alyona describes her work: "Kateryna is a self-taught folk artist who managed to breathe life into every flower she painted, and into every branch or ear of grain."
Born into a peasant family, Kateryna's parents were against her passion for art and prohibited her from studying "sinful" art.
By 1934, the pressure from her family became unbearable. Driven to total exhaustion and heartbreak, Kateryna decided that if she could not paint, she did not want to live.
In front of her mother, she stepped into the freezing, icy water, intent on drowning herself. Horrified by the sight of her daughter disappearing into the river, her mother finally broke. She screamed for Kateryna to come back, crying out that she would finally allow her to paint if only she stayed alive.
For the rest of her life, she suffered from chronic pain and walked with a cane, often having to paint while sitting or kneeling in agony.
Kateryna said, "Fate is testing those who dare to go towards a great goal, but no one will catch the courageous ones. They stubbornly and boldly go to their intended goal with clenched hands. And eventually, fate rewards them a hundredfold and reveals all the secrets of truly beautiful and incomparable art to them."
Ukrainian wreath
Ukrainian wreath (or vinok) is a traditional flower crown worn by girls and young, unmarried women. Vinok is part of the traditional Ukrainian costume and dates back to old Slavic traditions.
Similarly to the bouquet toss tradition in America, a flower wreath is floated down the river or on a lake in the direction of a person a girl should marry. This ancient Ukrainian ceremony is often performed on Ivan Kupala Day (John the Baptist Day).
Alyona adds this visual element to her cute characters. In Ukrainian tradition, each flower crown must be unique and tell the story of its owner.
Inner worlds
Another common feature in Alyona's work is an effect similar to a plywood cutout or even a photo booth cutout.
Notice how the body background is painted on Pomegranate or Avocado Chickens below. While the chicken's head and feet have shading and shadows to highlight the volume and give them dimension, the body lines don't have shading.
Alyona may be trying to paint her characters' inner worlds here. Imagine a chicken's body with transparent skin, with a pomegranate or avocado jungle inside. Her Sea Cow might be just a cow on the outside, but on the inside, she dreams of the ocean—the ocean with two cute French sailors fishing from a rowboat, tiny goldfish and baby squid, a yellow submarine, Croc shoes, and a mermaid's tail.
Close to your heart
Alyona's animals are so cute for a reason. Yes, it's because of the bright color palette and their adorable faces. Yet also notice their body language — innocent, warm, and protective.
They keep what's dear to them close to their hearts. It could be a lollipop, a flower bouquet, or an ice cream—and always with two hands! God forbid, they don't want anything to happen to what's dear to them.
Sometimes, they hug and protect their children and pets, as in Chicken Family or Dnieper Mermaid. Notice how in Dnieper Mermaid, the mermaid is hugging the cat while the cat is hugging the fish and how the fish is looking up at her cat.
Untied shoelaces
Little details make Alyona's work special. Let's look at her shoes!
Sometimes, they are grape with polka dots and black socks with white polka dots as in Pumpkin Teapot.
Sometimes, they look like small ladybugs as in Ladycow with untied shoelaces.
Sometimes, it's the Hermes' Sandals that her Ukrainian Bull is wearing.
And sometimes, these are super cute blue booties with wings on Sweet Tooth Hedgehog.
Wrinkles on our skin
If you look closely, you will also notice a peculiar surface for all of Alyona's paintings. The surface is rough and textured.
Alyona adds a thick layer of gesso (a mixture of pigment, resin, and chalk) to add texture and relief to her work. Texture takes on a sensuous, three-dimensional quality (with vitality and movement) and adds depth to the painting.
Her cute characters become a little bit more realistic and human. Just like wrinkles on our skin.
There's something very old-fashioned and almost regal to her compositions.
In the world of selfies, her portraits remind us of the pre-iPhone days. Days when people would dress up for family photos. The entire family would get together, and stand straight in front of the camera, just like they do in Respectable Frog Family.
1940s vintage family portrait
Respectable Frog Family portrait
Her other artwork looks similar to the 17th-century royal "en-face" (frontal) portraits. Like the noblemen of their time, Alyona's pups and frogs always dress up for the occasion and look at us with dignity and authority.
Musician Pug by Alyona Krutogolova
Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger
Our Art Exhibit
Photos from our art receptions in February 2024 and 2025, fundraisers and Castro Art Walk events.
References
Take a look at our currently available original paintings and prints
