
Yana Movchan
(Ukrainian)
Yanina (Yana) Movchan
was born in Kiev in 1971.
Yana’s sublime
mastery of the technique and structure of Renaissance painting combines
with the instinctive symbolism of "magical realism" to create a personal
neo-realist idiom. Her work is formal, yet playful; contemporary, yet
timeless; and joyous, yet mysterious, evocative and dreamlike.
In Yana’s paintings,
the intellectual and the emotional synthesize to form images that touch
the viewer’s heart whilst issuing a challenge: there are deeper meanings
to be unraveled, hidden clues amongst the hyper-real still lives,
portraits and animal scenes; meanings which echo deep in the unconscious
mind. Reviewers have compared Movchan’s work to Velasquez, Colville and
Magritte.
Yana trained at
the Ukrainian Art Academy. Her master’s thesis project (a triptych
entitled "Life on Earth") won the Golden Fund Prize, the Academy’s
highest art award. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions
in the Ukraine, Prague, London and Canada. She is based in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada, where she lives with her husband and two young sons.
AWARDS/HIGHLIGHTS
2007 Glenn Gould Foundation commission.
Commemorative portrait of the celebrated pianist to mark the 75th
anniversary of his birth.
2001 Best Painting Award, Annual Juried Show,
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
1995 Golden Fund Prize (the highest art award
in the Ukrainian Art Academy) for "Life on Earth" (triptych, oil on
canvas)
1989 Ukrainian Art Academy Award of Excellence
for "Thoughts of Harmony" (oil on canvas). Painting accepted into the
National Art Museum of Ukraine collection. "Thoughts of Harmony"
received the highest possible marks and was later purchased by the
Museum.