Tatyana Ostapenko
I make oil paintings because I am under the spell of tradition. I can’t shake off the childhood influences of Socialist Realism and traditional Russian painting, so I embrace them. I am a product of a failed utopia, the now defunct USSR, and I use its pictorial language to probe its aftermath.
I make contemporary history paintings to record the daily lives of people who usually don’t make it into official historical records. I want the middle children of progress and history, the former soviet citizens, to be memorialized as painting subjects: old women in flowered kerchiefs, leggy damsels desperate for glamour, indomitable wives and mothers dragging heavy bags to the bus stop.
I am interested in the everyday history of a distinct flavor, with a particular voice. The voice that is not often heard either in the West, nor in its homeland. Through these specific images of my native country I explore the universal themes of resilience, empathy, and hope in the face of adversity.
