Dzvinya Podlyashetska
b. 1994, Lviv, Ukraine
Dzvínya – An Artist of Naïve Grotesque and Ironic Utopia
My art is a game between naïveté and sarcasm, love and absurdity, social critique and a childlike belief in miracles. I work in the style of naïve art, blending it with grotesque, irony, and folkloric motifs. For me, it is important to depict the world as it can be felt beyond rational thinking – in dreams, myths, or even in the absurdities of everyday life.
I explore the unity of humans with nature, the paradoxes of society, and the psychological depths of the individual through a colorful, expressive, and seemingly intuitive visual language. My inspiration comes from everything I see and feel daily: random conversations, absurd details of the urban environment, the expressions of passersby, memories, emotions that appear out of nowhere. All of this transforms into visual metaphors that take shape on the canvas as strange, sometimes humorous, sometimes unsettling characters and scenes.
In my art, I always engage my imagination and fantasy, revealing stories as unfolding narratives, creating a world where reality intertwines with fiction. My paintings are not just images; they are tales where characters and events embody my personal experiences, emotions, and observations. Through symbolism, color, and grotesque, I convey my vision of the world – filled with absurdity, poetry, warmth, and sarcasm.
Love is a fundamental element in my art. It is not only a feeling between people but also a deep connection with nature, with other beings, and even with oneself. This love unites opposites: tenderness and chaos, laughter and pain, naïveté and the harshness of reality.
I perceive the world as a dual system where everything has its opposite and where harmony exists only in the interaction between these contrasts. In my works, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow intertwine, creating both tension and balance. It is a play of light and shadow, where one cannot exist without the other.
My paintings depict a world where animals and humans coexist under the same universal laws, where every character embodies an unspoken emotion or memory. Irony and social critique allow me to question the absurdity of human habits, power, ecology, consumption, and alienation. At the same time, I strive for the viewer to feel warmth, naïve joy, and a peculiar harmony, even in the most grotesque images.
My art is a dialogue between dreams and reality, between sincerity and sarcasm, between who we are and who we could be.
EDUCATION
2016-2019 Fine Arts, Department of book & printmaking graphics, Ukrainian Printmaking Academy, Lviv, Ukraine
2010-2014 Graphic Design, Ivan Trush Lviv State College of Decorative and Applied Arts, Lviv, Ukraine
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 - “InToleranz” District 4 Art, Vienna, Austria
2024 - “Immersion” flat exhibition under curating of Danylo Kovach, Vienna, Austria
2024 - “The Sun will soon appear” KUNSToffizin.Linz, Linz, Austria
2024 - “The Waves” Semperdepot (Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste), Vienna, Austria
2024 - “Wiener Melange”, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2024 - “The Collectyv”, National Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2024 - “Nouvel Accrochage”, Strouk Galerie, Paris, France
2024 - “Любощі та Пестощі (Love and caresses)”, Ya Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine
2023 - “Maria’s Dreams”, Volkskunde Museum, Vienna, Austria
2023 - “Milk & Blood”, Rakvere Galerii, Rakvere, Estonia
2023 - “Summer Vibes”, Strouk Galerie, Paris, France
2023 - “NOW NOW VOL.2”, Breach, Miami, USA
2023 - “Ukrainian Art Week”, 17 Frost Gallery, New York, USA
2023 - “Power of Confidence”, Galerie SLP, Berlin, Germany
2023 - “Passion Simple”, Galerie Laurent Strouk, Paris, France
2023 - “Darkness & Lights”, AG 18, Vienna, Austria
2023 - “Secret Love Stories”, Desiderio Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2022 - “ITI-PUNKU”, Galerie Laurent Strouk, Paris, France
2022 - “The art of Resistance” Algemesi, Spain
2022 - Show about war, Albert Contemporary, Odense, Denmark
2022 - Show of ukrainian artists “The art of Resistance”, Krakau, Poland
2022- “Paper” international group show ,BeersLondon, London,UK
2021 - International group show, Delphian Gallery, London, UK
2021 - Project “Kurazh”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 - “Immunity”, MSUMK (The Korsak's Museum of the Contemporary Ukrainian Art), Lutsk, Ukraine
2020 - “Young Love”,multimedia collaboration featuring paintings by Dzvinya Podlyashetska & wooden sculptures by Vadym Ishchenko, Triptych:Global Arts Workshop, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 - Show under the scope of TEDx Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine
2019 - Show of young printmakers «GraphicCircle» for illustrations to Omar Khayyam poetry,
Lviv National Museum, Lviv, Ukraine
2019 - Show «About Deep»,A-space, Lviv, Ukraine
2016 - "LIT.ERA" under the scope of social project LAST LESSON, Lviv Museum of Religious History, Lviv, Ukraine
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 - “When You Don’t Expect” Breach Miami, Miami, USA
2022 - “No name show” MQ, Jan Arnold, Vienna, Austria
2022 - Kunstforeningen Politikens Hus, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021 - Show of graphics (linocut prints) “Parables”, People’s Place, Lviv,Ukraine
2020-2021 - Show “Chronicle” MSUMK (TheKorsak’s Museum of the Contemporary
2019 - Show Of Painting «DRAMOIRONIA», Dzyga Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine Ukrainian Art), Lutsk,Ukraine
2019 - Show of graphics «Night Visions», LvivCofeeshop, Lviv,Ukraine
OTHER
2022 - Art residency “Montleart”, Vienna, Austria
2022 - Mural project, Curated by Katya Tailor, Marseille, France
2022 - Mural project, Curated by Jens-Peter Brask, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021 - Art residency “RudaProject”, Kruvuy Rig / Kyiv, Ukraine
2021 - Art festival “Hero”, FestRepublic, Lviv, Ukraine
2020 - Finalist Delphian OpenCall2020, Delphian Gallery, London, UK