NYAB Event - Audrey Ushenko "Fête Champêtre"

Audrey Ushenko "Fête Champêtre"

Denise Bibro Fine Art

This event has ended.

Denise Bibro Fine Art presents Audrey Ushenko's solo exhibition Fête Champêtre. As the title suggests, her uniquely rendered canvases of luxuriously composed still life and social gatherings have the airs of an extravagant garden party or celebration. Ushenko's masterful use of light and shadow and brilliant brushstroke enhance the viewer's experience. One gets senses of things that have just happened and things that are going to happen. Often, Ushenko takes liberty twisting the compositions by juxtaposing people, creatures and objects that you may not expect to be nearby or you would not have noticed otherwise. In doing so there is always an element of the unpredicted in Ushenko's work. The ordinary is far from ordinary.

Some of her recent canvases feature dynamic figurative compositions. These vibrant forms stand alone in their uniquely rendered physical characteristics, but together, they seem to join in celebration, enjoying a decadent fête champêtre. In one work, Ushenko renders delicate crystal and stargazer lilies, composed of warm, saturated tones set against a warm, soft environment. In another, with a still life in its foreground, Ushenko skillfully contrasts flesh tones with a cold, wintery palate.

Ushenko "... is a master chronicler of realities small and large," as critic Gerrit Henry noted in his 2003 Art in America review. The mundane and the actions and habits of people and circumstance become celebratory and sometimes lampooned life events. Both the inanimate object and painted figure come alive through her broad brushstrokes, contrasting texture and hue. Ushenko's acute attention to detail makes these works powerful, provocative vignettes.

Ushenko earned her Masters and Ph.D. in Art History from Northwestern University in Evanton, IL. She is a member of the National Academy of Art in New York City. She has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S., including the National Academy of Design, NYC and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Bloomington, IN. Ms. Ushenko has been reviewed in many renowned publications including Art In America, The New York Times, American Artists to name a few. Her works are in a number of substantial private and public institution collections.

[Image: Audrey Ushenko "Stargazers" (2011) oil on linen, 36 x 24 in.]