The Art of Resistance: Defending Academic Freedom since 1933 | Page 94
Ulyana Gumeniuk?Ukranian
Faded
2013
Signed
Unframed
Oil on canvas
90 x 90 cm
Guide Price £1,000
The daughter of a Ukrainian artist and dissident,
Ulyana had a turbulent artistic childhood. She
had first-hand experience of secret gatherings
of nonconformist art groups in Leningrad,
including meetings of the Sterligov Group
(Sterligov was a student of Malevich), where she
was introduced to constructivist and formalist
concepts at the early age of 9. After attending
State Art School at 11, she went on to study at
the Art Academy in Saint Petersburg, where she
also received a classical training.
This is evident in her oil painting technique,
for instance in Pipes 2 where she borrows
stylistically from the dome paintings of Italian
baroque churches.
Through benefaction and portrait commissions,
she went on to finish her studies at St Martins
School of Art, London, in 1996. Since then, she
has had a successful career exhibiting with
artists