Ukrainian artist Vira Yakymchuk is a self-taught painter whose work combines classical figurative painting with a modern twist. In this interview, she shares her creative journey and the personal experiences that have shaped her style. Vira talks about growing up in a small village surrounded by nature, which deeply influenced her love for animals and the natural world. She discusses how dreams, emotions, and human relationships play a big role in her artwork, and how her time studying with artist Fatih Gürbüz in Istanbul helped her find her unique creative voice. Through her paintings, Vira aims to explore the balance between reality and dreams, expressing complex human emotions and our ability to grow and transform.

Vira Yakymchuk is a featured artist in our book “Lines And Curves.” You can explore her journey and the stories of other artists by purchasing the book here: https://shop.artstoheartsproject.com/products/the-creative-process-book

I am a contemporary figurative painter from Ukraine. Above all, a self-taught painter developed an original style based on the color of nature. Whose creative production revolves around classical figurative painting, presented in a modern manner. Who spends most of my life in the world of dreams. Born in Husiatyn, a small provincial town in Western Ukraine, Ternopil oblast, I spent my childhood in a village surrounded by animals and nature. We are living in a hard time – a period of materialism, capitalism, momentary pleasures, and extreme individualism. It is an era in which the outrageous becomes ” the new normal ” and our capacity to get shocked by the tragic events becomes muted. Crisis prevails, new problems arise and careless policy syncs into a society inured to the ruthless, immoral behavior that we are experiencing and reading every single day about that. A global epidemic has taken hold of our society: the indifference to suffering and the needs of others.

One of the main objectives of my paintings is to show dualism between the chaos and perfection symmetry and sometimes I am trying to reflect our emotions. Where the balance of illusion and reality is inequality, there arises the peace that brings us to freedom. We are with love can make the most beautiful dreams, then the dreams can grow up within the soul, then become the supreme factor that determines the meaning of a person’s life. We are all capable of great change and emotional transition.

And I think the products develop from the chosen theme and the image of the living, coming from everything here and now. Ideally, everything happens, the person who seems to be, and I am as an artist in harmony with the mood, environment, nature, and subject of the image. Nature that awakens our souls to the vast inner freedom, allows us to give up time and space. It is a powerful source of knowledge, which through communication reveals its secrets to a person and makes it more sensitive to the world around him/her. After all, a person’s ability to see around him/her makes perfect peace in his/her soul, and a sense of oneness with nature, helps to understand himself/herself and others better. Compelled by this reality, I create an art that questions and has problems, and reflects on our lack of social awareness and compassionate action.

I think and feel that the people’s souls and sensibilities of prettiness, purity, and harmony of a millennia-old vision spring to nature. It is the origin and basis of life, of being. Much of what we live and experience is today, in the truest sense of the unnatural word. My images arise as a result of a constant internal process, thoughts, and feelings that want to be expressed. Through my work, I am trying to reflect reality like a dream, which is also a reflection of the real-life that we live in and feel. Sensations, images, ideas, concepts, thoughts, emotions, and feelings reflect objective reality experiences. They express a subjective attitude of humans to objects and phenomena of reality. My images inspire small associations with everyday life. They allow captured, “torn” penetration into the world beyond the limits of distractions, dependencies, speeches, materials, persecutions, and actions.

1. Your work blends classical figurative painting with a modern perspective. How do you navigate the balance between tradition and innovation in your art? 

The relationship between innovation and tradition shapes artistic movements by allowing artists to either challenge existing conventions or draw upon them for inspiration. My classical figurative painting with a modern perspective focuses more on expressing ideas or feelings and is more about experimentation and freedom. They express a subjective attitude of humans to objects and phenomena of reality. My images inspire small associations with everyday life. Where the balance of illusion and reality is inequality, there arises the peace that brings us to freedom. In my paintings, you will not see the usual sky that we are used to seeing, there are also no clouds… I paint monochrome skies, allowing us to give up time and space. Nature that awakens our souls to the vast inner freedom. Through my work, I am trying to reflect reality like a dream, which is also a reflection of the real-life that we live in and feel.

One of the main objectives of my paintings is to show dualism between the chaos and perfection symmetry and sometimes I am trying to reflect our emotions.

Vira Yakymchuk

2. Growing up surrounded by nature in Western Ukraine, how does the natural world influence your work today?  

I grew up in a small village, we had a mini farm and there were various animals… Since childhood, I spent summers near a pond, in a field, and in a forest where there was a meadow surrounded by a river, my brother and I took turns grazing cows and I drew a lot… When I grew up, I went to study in the city… but my love for animals and nature grew and I missed the peace that remained when time passed slowly, there were other values. So for me, painting is a vessel to communicate interior life. I paint to understand the world around me and make my experience visual and concrete. It’s the one place I can be raw, a place where I can act on impulse and instinct. I hope that if I’m present in my experience looking while I paint I might uncover something true about perception or bring light to a sensation/ experience that resonates with others.

3.  Your time in Istanbul with artist Fatih Gurbuz had a profound impact on your art. What did you learn from that experience that shaped your unique style?  

After moving to live in Istanbul, I found myself in my art… Since Fatih Gürbüz is an amazing artist who created gorgeous paintings that gave me new emotions, enthusiasm, and the desire to sit and paint over my creative world, he gave me a lot of advice, shared his experience, and believed in me… that was very important to me. To what extent he was the best teacher for me? In a short time, this figurative art came to me. Even after 4 years, when I looked at my paintings, I couldn’t believe that I was painting. At the age of 20 I took my first oil paints without even knowing how to mix colors on a palette, and at the age of 22 two paintings were painted, one of which was sold at a private auction in Istanbul.

It is a wonderful experience for me. My first two paintings were with nimbus, these elements from iconography, which speak of the sanctity of not only human but also animal souls. Over time, I am more interested in human relationships. Seeing Fatih Gürbus’s palette made me admire his art making… he used 25-tone colors in a portrait. My color palette remains much smaller, but the mauve I use for the body in my palette remains an integral part of my art. I was also inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, whom I still admire.

4. Your paintings explore complex human emotions and relationships. How do you approach capturing the delicate balance between reality and dream in your work? 

I try to investigate the delicate and complex network of feelings and emotions experienced by humans all over the world in a spirit of critical thinking and celebration. My works not only express the interconnectedness of the dimensions and experiences that shape a person’s life, but I also discover the huge strength that we humans possess to change ourselves from within and to transform the surrounding reality. I always feel like I can express anything with a paintbrush.

Admittedly when I try to portray the knot of emotion, memory, and sensory stimulation into an image, it evades me. It keeps you forever returning to a blank canvas, desperate to materialize the human part of you that’s not spoken or organic then dreams come to the rescue with their vision and atmosphere. I guess it’s a communication of what people consider the ‘soul’. The feeling of freedom, releasing fears and doubts, and following my inner voice and peace. It’s a wonderful feeling to emerge into an idea that flows. Painting is rewarding in my life. When you can feel strokes of the brush on the canvas, the smell of oil paint. It adds additional value to the experience of creating art.

By my work I am trying to reflect reality like a dream, which is also a reflection of real life which we live in and feel. Sensations, images, ideas, concepts, thoughts, emotions and feelings reflect objective reality experiences.

Vira Yakymchuk

5. As a self-taught artist, how has your journey of independent study influenced your creative process and style? 

I had a big desire to learn, and to be a good artist. During the year in 2012, trying to paint my first portraits, nothing worked out… moving to Istanbul opened up my creative path. Overall, art is an integral part of education that helps me develop important skills and encourages creative expression. It is an important tool for teaching and can be used in various ways to make learning more engaging and meaningful. When you begin to live by painting day and night, even on the street you see people, and you immediately think of a composition for new paintings.

Also dream of ready-made paintings, so I often paint my inspiration and compositions from dreams, these are beautiful dreams that I paint on canvas, and then I go to reality and continue to translate them. Since childhood, I have had very vivid dreams, and they always featured beautiful, picturesque nature, and the animals we had at home. All this has become an integral part of my life. Hard work pays off. How much we invest in our studies – this is our time, desire, love, energy, and pleasure, that’s how much we get in return.

6.  Your work has been shown internationally, from Ukraine to the USA and the Philippines. How do you feel your art resonates with audiences across different cultures?  

Although my art is perceived more by a foreign audienceі, also by galleries and collectors. At the same time, my art remains foreign in Ukraine. It is difficult to explain why so. I was born here, and I live here, but my art is perceived by others just like me as foreign. As artists are a product of the culture and society in which we grew up, and as such, we are influenced by the customs and norms of their society. Often, our artwork reflects upon and upholds the objects, ideas, and customs that society values. I believe that my art can touch everyone no matter what. Our art plays a crucial role in forming and expressing cultural identity. It captures the essence of a community’s beliefs, traditions, and experiences, preserving them for future generations. Through visual storytelling, art conveys complex cultural narratives.

Vira Yakymchuk’s work blends classical figurative painting with modern perspectives, reflecting her deep connection to nature and her exploration of human emotions. Through her art, Vira conveys the delicate balance between illusion and reality, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own experiences and transformations. Her work is not just a visual representation but a way to communicate the complexities of life, dreams, and the human spirit. To learn more about Vira, click the following links to visit her profile.

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