A Ukrainian artist – who has fled her homeland and is currently resident on the Isle of Wight – is currently staging an exhibition of her work at Quay Arts, Newport.
Yana Barabash was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine and studied at the Grekov Odesa Art school.
Widely travelled, and exhibited in the museums and galleries of Odessa, Kyiv and abroad, Yana fled Ukraine earlier this year when war broke out, leaving behind much of her life and body of art.
In the short time Yana has been in the UK, she has been creating plein air seascapes and portraits in oils, featuring Isle of Wight locations, lightly suffused with her idiosyncratic colour palette.
Yana says:
“My paintings remained at home (in the Ukraine), my plans and I had to start a new life. But thanks to the open hearts of the British, their help and care, we are safe here. The Isle of Wight became my second home, and I have begun to paint again. In this exhibition, at Quay Arts, you can see paintings made on the Island since arriving, glorifying the beauty of this place, as well as several portraits.”
Quay Arts Visual Arts manager, Ian Whitmore, says:
“I was really pleased to be approached by Yana and to be able to support Yana in presenting recent works in oils, created on the Isle of Wight, made since fleeing the war in Ukraine. Yana’s works are for sale and commissions undertaken upon request.”
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Yana’s work will be on display from Friday 9th August until Sunday 11th September.
Steve Miles is another artist whose work is currently being exhibited at Quay Arts.
The award-winning painter and NAPA (National Acrylic Painters’ Association) member has an abstract language of painting combined with a highly expressive and gestural graphic style influenced by his years as a graffiti artist and graphic designer.
His exhibition includes recent and new artworks featuring Steve’s signature Layered technique, vibrant colours and abstract shapes.
Introduced to hip hop at an early age after seeing magazines about graffiti and hip hop, Steve became intrigued by the graffiti artwork that was integral to hip hop and breakdancing culture.
Over time, he has adapted his scaled down approach to painting by creating more abstracted and fluid, gestural marks that capture the same emotions that can be found in his large-scale graffiti works.
Quay Arts Visual Arts manager, Ian Whitmore, says:
“It’s been a pleasure working with Steve to realise RE:EMERGE, an exhibition of street-infused abstract contemporary paintings. The deft and powerful pieces are a development from Steve’s earlier ‘Toxic363’ works, morphing the previously large format and angular letterform murals into panels, diptychs and sequenced wall works that burst with energy.”
