Continuing the OPEN CALL 2021 program, the second among the finalists’ exhibitions will be the project “I LOVE KHARKIV” by Oksana Boyko.

From the author’s concept:

“Kharkiv is a city of contrasts, it’s about severity and tenderness at the same time. Hello, I’m Oksana, and I love painting the city. I’ve been living in the most beautiful city on Earth since I was 4, and I’ve been receiving art education since I was 6. It happened that the love for painting and the love for my city intersected, and that’s how this project happened. More precisely, it’s not even a project, but my way of life, finding beauty in everyday streets, in moments that happen to us every day, in people passing by, in strangers who ride the metro with me. In painting, I embody what seems beautiful to me. I sincerely enjoy finding colorful spots in the accumulation of advertising signs, in a bunch of illegally constructed kiosks, in colorful shopping centers, or spending hours drawing the endless Saltivka, trying to separate one building from another with graphic strokes and dots.

In this exhibition, I share with you my love for my city and invite you to look at it the way I see it. Kharkiv through the eyes of its inhabitant.”

Oksana Boyko graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in 2022 (Department of Book Graphics – Bachelor, Department of Book Graphics – Master). The main directions of her activity are painting, graphics, and illustration.

Exhibition coordinator – Daria Gerasimova.