BIO
Anna Maiko was born and raised in a small town in the eastern part of Ukraine in 1992.
After attending a local fine art school, she kept on following her vocation, experimenting with different painting techniques and discovering how to express herself through her paintings. In 2012 she moved to the US and in 2018 got her degree in Painting at De Anza College in California, US. In 2019 she was back in Ukraine and finished her education at the Art Academy of traditional realist art in Kyiv.
Annaʼs paintings are included in numerous private and public collections around the world, including those of the San Jose Museum of Art and Palo Alto Art Center. In 2020 she was commissioned to create a large floral artwork for the USAA Poppy Wall of Honor in Washington, US.
Anna's work has been published in multiple magazines and books, including Studio Visit and bestseller The Ultimate Guide to Channeling by Amy Sikarskie, where Anna created all 22 unique illustrations.
In 2022 with the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Anna left Kyiv and moved to Spain. Where she currently working in her studio in Valencia.
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STATEMENT
My work is a contemporary approach to the genre of painting floral subjects. While influenced by classic traditions, my paintings use the poetics of abstraction to elicit an emotional connection with the viewer. That connection may come through a number of sensations, from sadness and anxiety to pleasure and hopefulness. Each of these aspects of humanity resides in my work simultaneously.
I craft my paintings as layered compositions, carefully built up through a variety of media such as acrylic impasto strokes, oil bars, air sprays and charcoal. Each element offers its own distinctive character to my work and that dynamism brings out all the nuances of my practice. Delicate and gestural charcoal linework provides the gentle, airy foundation of these paintings. The heavier brushwork in acrylic builds the emotional resolution in their thick, generous and painterly presence.
I consciously use a subdued color palette to explore an emotional depth not typical of floral painting. The muted tones suggest ambiguity, feelings of the unknown or something unsettling that awaits beyond the light. That sensation allows for a counterpoint in the brighter accents that I introduce into my compositions. Moments of hope balance the painting, modulating between light and dark and creating the emotional landscape that defines my practice.
These contrasting elements build dimensions into my compositions - spaces to breathe and move. You will sense motion in them, in the weight of the flowers and the delicate motion of the petals echoing the motion of my hand creating them. You will be absorbed in a realm of transformation and transition. Just like the natural life cycles that guide our flora and fauna through metamorphosis, my paintings invite the viewer to embrace their offerings of lightness and darkness and grow into them.
