Wichuta Painting

Artwork now in exhibitions in Bangkok Gallery Tetiana Cherevan.
Ensō: The Circle of Life “A circle becomes like the Universe!” Yamada Reirin (1889–1979), Japanese artist One of the talents good artists possess is the ability to improvise and listen to the hints of Life. They know the precious value of the Chance, when certain seemingly insignificant details interfere the creative process, finally guiding it in the totally opposite, new direction. And this is the case with many works of the Ukrainian painter Tatiana Cherevan, as they seem to evolve from the intriguing life coincidences and purely intuitive u. The featured series of canvases was born after the artist’s journey to Ko Samui – a Thai island. During the first visit, in 2014, Tatiana and her family came across an abandoned art gallery. The local artist, who had once owned it, died long ago, yet, they met and made friends with his granddaughter. During a new trip to Samui in 2017, Tatiana visited that place again to discover the gallery was in the awful state, with leaking roof, crumbling walls and paintings, eaten by termites. The artist decided to take and use some of the undamaged canvases in her new project. Such a symbolical gesture of giving the paintings ‘a second life’ becomes even more eloquent considering the images that originally were on them: all of the pieces initially were a curious sample of the zen calligraphic motif, known as ensō. Ensō is a hand drawn circle, which for the Buddhists became a universal symbol of integrity, enlightenment, the cyclical nature of existence, as well as a visualization of Void: as a the Heart Sutra reads, “Form is void and void is form.” Using ensō as a background part for the series of eight portraits, Tatiana amplifies their sublimity and philosophical implication, fusing western interest in individuality with the neglection towards materiality, typical for oriental cultures. The hints at the latter aspect can be seen in the way the circles are painted: according to the calligraphic canons, when drawn with an opening (similar to those on the canvases Tatiana has used), ensō signifies imperfection as an inherent part of our existence. And the artists, like no one else, are challenged by their struggle for perfection and inability to reach it. Tatiana captures delicate and powerful female characters not to celebrate their beauty but to show ‘the infinite in finite.’ The floral, Art-Nouveau-like, ornamentation underlines the idea of temporality of all existing material things, as there’s nothing more transient than a life of a flower. The hieratical flavor of the paintings is strengthened with the centricity of compositions, static poses of the models, and active usage of the golden tint that is traditionally associated with light and spiritual growth. ‘Ars longa,’ the proverb says. However, nothing is permanent. Still, as the story behind Tatiana’s works shows, we can achieve the immortality through the ‘reincarnation,’ finding our continuation in the works of the others. Fighting with Time is a pointless and unwinnable war. The only way is to accept the fleetingness of everything, and then, probably, Time will show us its eternal, recurring nature. Oleksandra Osadcha,
art critic