Hyzhy Oleh

Ukrainian artist Hyzhy Oleh is well known for his ‘blurry paintings’. In his portraits, the faces and bodies of the subject are subtly muddied, which gives the artwork a surreal effect. The blur effect can also be seen in his other works including still lifes and landscapes. Oleh’s paintings are characterized by a typical sense of motion. The subjects are never static; rather they seem to be in movement. This quality lends a dynamic quality to the paintings, making those almost cinematic.

Oleh completed his art education from the Department of Ceramics at Lviv's Art Academy, Ukraine. Oleh’s work charts its own distinct course but one can see the influence of abstract expressionism. His landscapes are unique in the evocation of the moods and emotions of a particular season through a subjective visual vocabulary. One can see this at work in his paintings Spring and Winter. Both these paintings try to create the mood of the particular season through the use of colours, subtle shapes and silhouettes, providing a hint of the flora, fauna, or seasonal objects. The blurry effect is again very much functional here!

His portraits evoke a range of human emotions like love, longing, desire, and grief. Many of these feature lovers. Charged with persistent obscuring style, one gets a sense of the emotions sporadically. Most importantly, the paintings appear to be embodying the artist’s quest for self-discovery.

Hyzhy Oleh’s works have been exhibited in Belgium, Germany, Prague, Ukraine, and Belarus.