Hanna Kryvolap

Hanna Kryvolap (born 26 April 1977, Kyiv) is a Ukrainian painter. She became a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine in 2001. She lives and works in Ukraine.

Biography
Hanna Kryvolap was born in Kyiv in the family of a famous Ukrainian artist Anatoliy Kryvolap and an ethnographer and researcher of the history of Ukrainian national dress Zinaida Vasina. She received her first painting lessons from her parents and has been working creatively since childhood.

She studied at the Taras Shevchenko State Art School (1989-1995; teachers Zoya Lerman and Oleh Zhyvotkov). In 2001, she graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (D. Lider's workshop).

First solo exhibition took place in 1990 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Her paintings have been exhibited at personal exhibitions in Germany, the USA, Switzerland, Turkey, the Netherlands, France, and Montenegro. She has been a participant in group, national, international exhibitions, plein airs, art projects.

Her works are held by the US Embassy in Ukraine, the Museum of Modern Art of Ukraine (Kyiv), Zaporizhzhia Regional Art Museum, Museum of Young Art (MOYA; Vienna, Austria), and numerous private collections in Ukraine and abroad.

Art career
Hanna Kryvolap works at the intersection of several styles and trends. In her artistic polity, the features of abstract expressionism, fauvist savagery and archaic motifs of folk painting are recognizable.

The artist's main series include the following:


 * Horizons. "Hanna Kryvolap's paintings from the Horizons series grow out of the intersection of impressions and purely pictorial fantasies. She paints cities as if from a bird's eye view from remote vantage points where they reveal wide panoramas. The artist is interested not so much in the uniqueness of individual cities as in plastic expressiveness, flexible silhouettes, saturation of colours, which from a distant perspective lose their objectivity, turning the image of the city into a magnificent morgana veil. The landscape is here "the material from which the artist builds his colourful world, full of beauty, energy and abuse". Halyna Skliarenko. "Hanna Kryvolap has a rare talent to "soften" the intimacy of urban landscapes, to add life to them, without inhabiting them with living beings. She transforms her picturesque city into a natural phenomenon, not a human creation. The reflection of the landscape is not literal, but a certain mood, an atmospheric mood, returns to the object of reflection, changing it again, changing its breathing." Andrey Kurkov
 * Ribbons. In her works from the series "Ribbons" Hanna Kryvolap addresses the theme of Ukrainian traditions, which reflect the mentality and soul of the people. The inspiration for the works was a well-known wedding rite, when girls tie ribbons to the fence, making their innermost wishes. In these works, we can see how, thanks to the artist's peculiar expressive colouristic style, the traditional festive installation is transformed into a contemporary artwork.
 * Wells. This series of works is dedicated to an object as important to Ukrainian identity as a well. What is it: an architectural structure, a source of life, a place that gathers a community? The series depicts wells from different regions of Ukraine, which differ in style and execution. The first work was made in 2006.
 * Involvement. "The series Involvement emerged as a reflection of the artist's memories of her contact with ancient artefacts - "mosaics". The artist avoids ornamentation, leaving the geometric construction, which creates the effect of monumentality. The project is based on an original painting technique that involves painting with short strokes in the form of rectangles, with the inclusion of contrasting colours, which vaguely resembles pointillist practices." Roksana Rublevska
 * Dynamics of Galician Baroque. "The language and plasticity of the paintings of the Dynamics of Galician Baroque were formed gradually and grew through the works of Hanna Kryvolap's series Landscapes, Ribbons, Blooming, Involvement, Reminiscences... the series is a dialogue with the Baroque sculptor Pinsel and is inspired by his energy of movement-flight and colour of the Ribbons, combined with the folklore songfulness of ancient and new traditions. The new theme is based on the intense work on the structure of ascent and layering of colour in physical and speculative dynamics. Feeling a certain kinship with his perception of space and movement, the artist again plunged into the work of the mysterious sculptor. A passionate and confidential conversation ensued. Artists often engage in dialogues with their predecessors who excited or influenced them. The cycle of paintings "The Dynamics of Galician Baroque" is a vivid example of a dialogue between two artists across the centuries. On the one hand, it is an expressive obeisance, that is, a gesture of respect to the artist who worked in the 18th century, from a 21st century artist, and on the other hand, it is her own passionate expression, a pictorial text about the dramas and conflicts and mental tension of a modern person." Olesia Avramenko
 * Plastic variations. The result of the artist's experiments with body art, when, moving in dance, figures from real space, having acquired colour, return to the surface of the canvas, giving a completely different context to the human figure.
 * Abstract compositions. A series of abstract paintings that appeal to sensuality. Colour and its emotional and psychological properties become the centre of attention. The author, thanks to colour combinations and plasticity, immerses the viewer in a certain psychological state, aiming to free art from any control of the diet in order to release the inner impulses of the subconscious. A special emphasis is placed on the painting surface.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 1990 - first solo exhibition at the age of 13 at the Union of Artists, Tbilisi, Georgia.
 * 1999, 1996 - exhibitions at Irena Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine.
 * 2001 - exhibition and Body-Art-Performance at Persona Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine.
 * 2002 - exhibition and Body-Art-Performance in the gallery "Mytec", Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2003 - exhibition "Hot Wave" at the Art Centre on Kostelnaya Street, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2003 - GalerieDrucksache, Eichthal, Germany
 * 2004 - exhibition in the gallery "MysteckaVitalnia", Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2005 - exhibition at the German Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2006 - gallery Art Blues, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2007 - Da Vinci Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2007 - exhibition "Kyiv", Gallery "Tryptych-Art", Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2008 - exhibition "Kyiv Horizons", BottegaGallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2009 - exhibition "Wells", BottegaGallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2010 - exhibition "Istanbul", Tryptych-Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2010 - gallery "Lenin", Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine
 * 2012 - gallery "Tryptych-Art", Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2012 - Kyiv Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2013 - MOYA - Museum of Young Art, Vienna, Austria
 * 2013 - Lavra Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2013 - gallery "Tryptych-Art", Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2014 - Hanikah Gallery "Horizons.Sarajevo", Sarajevo BIH
 * 2015 - "Painting", Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, USA
 * 2015 - "St. Andrew's Church" from the series "Horizons", Tryptych Art Gallery, Kyiv
 * 2016 - "Ribbons", Triptych Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2017 - "Flower", Lavra Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2018 - "Colour", a project in the gallery at the Palais de L'Europe, Strasbourg, France
 * 2018 - "Horizons", Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
 * 2019 - "Involvement", Marat Gelman Gallery, Budva, Montenegro
 * 2019 - "Involvement", Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2020 - "Isolation" online exhibition, Barbara von Stechow Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
 * 2020 - project "Reminiscences", National Union of Artists of Ukraine, House of Artists, Kyiv
 * 2022 - exhibition "Dialogue of Traditions", Lviv, Andrey Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv
 * 2023 - exhibition "Light through Darkness", Museum of the History of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2023 - exhibition "Pulse of Love", Kyiv National Art Gallery, Kyiv
 * 2024 - exhibition "Spectrum", Museum of the Diaspora of Ukraine, Kyiv

Participation in international exhibitions

 * 2007 - Art Kyiv, Ukrainian House, Kyiv, Ukraine
 * 2007 - Art International Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
 * 2008 - InternationaleKunstmesse, Sindelfingen, Germany
 * 2009 - Berlin-Berlin, GalerieArtodrom, Berlin, Germany
 * 2009 - Istanbul Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
 * 2010 - Armed Art Week, New York, USA
 * 2010 - Art Palm Beach Miami International, Miami, USA
 * 2013 - CONTEXT art Miami - Miami, USA
 * 2013 - ARTSD13 - Art San Diego 2013, San Diego, USA
 * 2013 - HFAF - Art Fair, Houston, USA
 * 2014 - Art Festival "Saraewska zima", Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Honours

 * All-Ukrainian cultural and artistic project "Triennial of Painting", Grand Prix for the work "Identification" (2023).
 * Laureate of the Kyiv Art Prize 2021 for a series of paintings "Capitals of the World" (2018-2020)
 * Laureate of the first prize of the All-Ukrainian Triennial of Painting (2013).