Art Historians about the Works of Anna Myronova: Impressions and Contradictions

Abstract

The reaction of Ukrainian art critics on the works of Anna Myronova as one of the leading representatives of modern Ukrainian art is analyzed in the article. Anna Myronova is one of the most active (about twenty personal exhibitions and more than a hundred group exhibitions) and the most honored contemporary Ukrainian young artists. In particular, her name is stated in the Forbes rating (among 25 personalities) The Most Successful Representatives of Modern Ukrainian Art under the Age of Forty (2016). The press attention to the artist’s works is a separate phenomenon. Starting with Shadows of the Grass (2012), each new project of A. Myronova arouses permanently the keen interest of art critics and journalists. Articles about her are published regularly in the official edition of the National Union of the Artists of Ukraine Fine Arts, the Science and Society edition of the Knowledge of Ukraine Association, the Museum Lane magazine, on serious Internet portals, and leading researchers of contemporary art write about her. But the number of texts, their emotionality and sincerity, cannot hide some kind of confusion of the authors. After all, comments and explanations to the artist’s works are given not even different, but opposite in content. Thus, the haiku and sonnets of C. Baudelaire, the philosophy of I. Kant and M. Heidegger are used, A. Huxley and the names of great artists of the past (Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Claude Monet) are mentioned for a better understanding of her projects (such as Drought (2012–2013), Disorientations (2013), Heat (2014), Heraldry of the Poor (2014), Arms of Reminiscences (2014), Still Project (2015), Simple Actions, Simple Things (2015), Fragments? (2016), Between Touches (2017), Space (2018), Along the Current (2018), CUT (2019), Against the Light (2020), Geotexts (2021), etc.). She is considered to be free from social issues or prejudiced to them, one of the brightest representatives of eco-art in Ukraine, a peculiar but unquestionable urbanist. After all, in her projects they see a deep spiritual meaning, an original artistic meditation, a way of connecting with the forces and energies of the universe. The main ways and methods of researching A. Myronova’s works are revealed in the article, and its purpose is to confirm or refute the fruitfulness and expediency of these methods.