Winter Exhibition at MoRA 2018
WINTER EXHIBITION AT MoRA 2018
December 8th – December 22nd
Museum open: Saturday, Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm
Opening reception with artists:
Saturday, December 8th 6pm-10pm
Evening of Live Jazz and Wine at MoRA
Saturday, December 15th 6pm-11pm
Closing Party for the Winter Exhibition at MoRA
Saturday, December 22nd 7pm-11pm
For more information contact:
Boris Belenky, MoRA Director:
917-921-1003
borisny2000@yahoo.com
Participating artists:
Svetlana Avvakum
Anna Drik
Igor Dubovoy
Gennady Feldman
Isabella Glaz
Vitaly Gonikman
Grigory Gurevich
Lenny Khimishman
Evgenia Klimenko
Irene Koval
Lenny Levitsky
Yelena Lezhen
Julia Michry
Irina Sheynfeld
Joseph Shneberg
Yuliya Sidorova
Emil Silberman
SVETLANA AVVAKUM
Was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and became a dancer in the first Russian Modern Dance Theater under Sasha Kukin Dance Company. Later studied ballet at the Department of Criticism of Ballet in St. Petersburg and cooperated with social networks of the Mariinsky Theater as a photographer.
Svetlana’s photographs became part of the exhibitions of the Mariinsky Theater and traveled to many countries together with the performances, with exhibitions of her photos in Peking, China; Urbino, Italy and other countries.
Now she is also a photographer at the Stanislavsky Academic Music Theater and takes part in various international projects.
My soul is in the dance. And dance is in my soul.
ANNA DRIK
Anna Makedonskaya-Drik was born in Dnepr, Ukraine. Her family immigrated to the U.S. in the late 90’s., settling in NY.
Anna is a mathematician by profession, but from early childhood, had a strong desire to draw.
Graphics, minimalist style and book illustration are the favorites. She spent 14 years dancing and lifelong passion for ballet is recognizable in her art.
Anna is using Indian ink on cold press paper and sometime acrylic and watercolors as a color accent in her art works.
IGOR DUBOVOY
Being a native Muscovite, the master of watercolor Igor Dubovoy is deeply rooted in Russian urban imagery which he got accustomed with while visiting the prominent Tretiakov Gallery in his childhood.
Being a sophisticated European traveler, the artist captures architecture of classical Renaissance and Baroque buildings envisioned as both monumentally stamped by their time and a very modern background for people’s life today.
The shimmering puddles on the ground, the small brooks and well-known canals and rivers, the capricious wavy life of water with its watermarks. While almost all of us would hurry under the umbrella to shelter ourselves from the elements, the artist will select this moment to stage his little “watercolor” interlude.
ISABELLA GLAZ
Isabella Glaz was born in Ukraine. After high school, she continued her education at Leningrad Muhin Art Institute and Simferopol Art School, where she studied drawing, painting and art history.
From 1981 to 1986 Glaz studied at Lvov Publishing Academy and graduated with majors in Book Illustration and Art History.
From 1985 to 1988 she participated in many group and single shows in the Ukraine and Russia, as well as illustrated children’s books and designed theatrical costumes.
In 1988 Izabella immigrated to Vienna, Austria where she designed for a small publishing company.
In 1989 she moved to Rome, Italy where she continued to paint, and where many of her pieces now hang in private collections. Isabella Glaz arrived in the United States in 1991 and currently resides and creates in New York City.
Isabella’s work art work exhibiting in US and European galleries and sold to private collectors.
www.saatchiart.com/bellaglaz
VITALY GONIKMAN
I was born and raised in a beautiful old city Odessa in Ukraine. Odessa was my early inspiration for black and white cityscape drawings.
Now I live in the beautiful city of New York that is spiritually so close to Odessa.
Throughout my life I was trying to establish my own style, style that will express my inner world and artistic preferences. When I started to create surrealistic black and white drawings I felt ‘this is it’….
I have found it and I named my style “Conceptual Surrealism”. My main intent is to embed a deep meaning in each image but leave plenty of room for the viewer’s imagination.
My favorite media is ink and pen but I’m gladly using oil paints, watercolors, pencils, and I love photography.
www.redbubble.com/people/vitaliy
GRIGORY GUREVICH
Sculptor, painter, photographer, graphic artist, printmaker, art book creator, and inventor – has had more than four hundred exhibitions in the United States and Europe and conducted hundreds of sculpture workshops in Italy, Denmark, Russia and the United States.
His paintings, drawings, and sculptures have won numerous awards and are in public and private collections in Russia, Switzerland, France, Croatia, Germany, Slovakia and the United States. He received a master’s degree in art from Academy of Fine and Industrial Arts in Leningrad, Russia and was a professor at St. John’s University, New York, and a faculty member of Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts.
His bronze tableau of seven life-size figures entitled “The Commuters”, sculpted in 1985, is permanently installed in Newark Penn Station. His bronze bust of Japanese-American Inventor Kazuo Hashimoto is installed in NJIT, Newark, NJ. His book “Reflections” features seventeen linocuts, etchings, and mixed media prints has been included in the print collection of New York Public Library as well as the rare book collection of Newark Museum Library, Library of Saint Bonaventure University, and Print Collection of HERMITAGE MUSEUM in Leningrad, Russia.
His work won many awards and honorable mentions. His biography was published in “Who is Who in American Art”, “WIKIPEDIA” and many magazines and newspapers and was shown on television shows in different European countries.. His sculpture “CLOWN” was exhibited in Russian State museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Four of his Art books are accepted to a Library of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
LENNY KHIMMISHMAN
Drawing was undoubtedly his passion from the young years. After graduating a four-year college with the degree in graphic art and technical drawing, Lenny worked for the graphic art firm and soon became a bright young member of the vibrant Moscow Artistic Community. Membership brought Lenny great visibility, and not long after he featured his works on the famous Arbat Street, in the heart of Moscow historic district.
Despite his success, Lenny, like so many artists of the day, felt limited and thirsty for creative freedom and soon left Russia for Austria in the 80. After living in several European countries, the long and winding road brought him to America, and he now lives with his family around the New York City area.
He worked as a graphic artist in several small art companies around Brooklyn and Manhattan, and for the last 25 years he has been working for the International Publishing Company, where he is developing the digital photography, production art and magical world of color.
His everyday work for well known international magazines certainly keeps him busy, yet he still finds time and inspiration to create and share his intimate vision with others, revisiting that passionate young boy inside.
EVGENIA KLIMENKO
Born into a multi-generational family of artists, Evgenia Klimenko resides in Odessa, which marks a source of inspiration for all her work. The artistic identity is embedded in the city’s unique cultural heritage and position straddling Russian and Ukrainian history.
She is a hunter on many levels, whether seeking the proper texture of a surface for her emerging pastels or catching a whimsical “cinematic” glimpse of street life in her beloved Odessa.
To get this organic sense of the passing moment, Evgenia would experiment with combinations of different painting techniques and search for the relevant basis for her pastels, oil brushstrokes, or ink touches.
The colorful accent in her Red series and the breath of wind in her sketchy Odessa street views all remind us of continuous “unfinished objects”, distorted by the fragility of life.
IRENE KOVAL
Irene Koval, Ukrainian artist originally from Odessa, was raised in a family of carnies (father was an engineer and performer for the circus and mother was a skilled acrobat) Irene worked in the circus as a child, performing acrobatic acts. Her childhood was as unusual as it was difficult, always moving to new places all over Russia as a part of the soviet circus lifestyle.
After graduating from circus institute and officially becoming a part of the soviet circus, Irene found herself greatly stimulated by her creativity. At this time, she was collecting a diversity of skill and technique from the various art classes she was attending in different parts of the Former Soviet Union as she was traveling all over the country with her circus.
Irene had a strong passion for the fine arts and theater. From 1983 to 1987 she attended the State Art Theatrical College in Odessa and became a property master puppeteer and art sculpture doll designer. After graduation, she was participating in numerous fine art exhibitions in Ukraine and Russia. In 1989 she fled the political oppression of her home country by immigrating to the United States and settling in New York to continue her pursuit of a career in art. In 1994 Irene graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) as a textile and surface designer. She worked for different design studios but her love of the fine arts and theater never died.
Irene has been painting, constructing Dolls, and even assembling jewelry all her life. Her style and technique has transformed over the years but Irene always finds that most of all, her art is influenced by her experience as a circus performer.
LENNY LEVITSKY
Levitsky was born in Moscow, Russia, in the year 1962. He attended the School of Fine Art of Moscow, and in 1985 graduated to the Moscow Academy of Industrial and Applied Arts (Former Stroganov School), at which he received a master degree in Interior Design.
Levitsky furthered his study of Interior Design by apprenticing at Hermitage and other Russian Palaces. Mr. Levitsky has worked on prestigious projects as former President of Russia Mikhail Gorbachev’s summer estate in Crimea and the Telecenter in Moscow.
In 1990, he moved to New York City and five short years later established his own interior design firm, The Art of Decoration. He decorated private residences and estates in and around the Tri-State area.
Both psychology of art and the art of psychology have always been objects of L. Levitsky passionate interest. Already achieving great success in art, he decided to make psychology his second profession. L. Levitsky earned his Master Degree in Clinical Social Work at New York University. He received extensive training in individual and group psychotherapy working in both inpatient and outpatient settings. In his work, L. Levitsky combines visual arts with counseling and psychotherapy.
Being a successful interior designer and psychotherapist, he still continues practicing and creating fine art.
YELENA LEZHEN
Yelena Lezhen is an American artist born in Ukraine who lives and works in New Jersey. Her preferred media is oil, acrylic and ink on canvas and paper. Her symbolism bears an emotionality required to express, soberly and directly, a specific emotive atmosphere.
Eroticism and sexuality is the bridge that leads from visible to invisible in her works. One needs to stop for a while, observe closely, get out of the closed room of stereotypes and open the door leading to understanding what she tries to convey.
Yelena participated in numerous art exhibitions in the US and Europe, and won a number of juried selection art competitions and awards. Her paintings and drawings can be found in private collections around the world, including United States, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine
www.lenazhenart.com
JULIA MICHRY
Julia was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her love for art and design started early and by the fourth grade she was enrolled in an art school for gifted students.
After graduating from high school, Julia studied at the Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy, one of the country’s best art colleges.
Continuing her studies when she came to America, Julia earned her BA in Graphic Design in just three years from New York’s School of Visual Arts and worked as graphic designer, winning over 25 awards and receiving numerous mentions in leading graphic design publications.
As a graphic designer Julia never gave up her true love of traditional art. Making the necessary time to hone in on her skills and desire to focus on Painting.
Her medium is watercolor, and while her work reflects a deep love of nature, it is also rooted in Julia’s Russian background. Julia’s use of colors and patterns is reflective of her Russian heritage and adds another element to her paintings.
IRINA SHEYFELD
Irina grew up in Odessa, Ukraine where she was classically trained as a painter, designer and puppet maker.
Then she continued her studies at Parsons School of Design where she earned BFA then she received MFA at School of Visual Arts.
Irina had multiple solo exhibitions; her work was included in numerous juried group shows and published by various publications including WSJ, Money Magazine and Oxygen Media.
Irina is a recipient of the COJECO’s Blueprint Fellowship and Grant.
www.ceresgallery.org/sheynfeld.html
JOSEPH SHNEBERG
Joseph Shneberg first picked up a camera in his native Riga, Latvia, in the 1960s. By the 1970s, he was renowned in Riga and featured in local exhibitions while earning a living photographing spreads for leading fashion magazine Rigas Modes, as well as stills and portraits for Sayuztorg Riklama and Torgovaya Palata.
In 1974, Joseph moved to America and freelanced as a portrait and fashion photographer immersed in New York City’s underground nightlife. Joseph left New York for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1987, where he opened his own photo studio and quickly became one of the most sought-after portrait and commercial photographers on the island.
He was featured in La Bienal de Artistas Plásticos, had several solo exhibitions of his portrait photography, and won multiple awards for his work in advertising. Joseph moved back to the New York City area with his wife and two daughters in 2001 and continues to freelance as a portrait photographer.
YULIYA SIDOROVA (1979-2017)
Yuliya was born in Moscow Russia, and came to the USA with parents in 1991.
She graduated from Kean University, cum laude, with a degree in English literature.
She taught English in college.
She changed her career after graduating Pace University, becoming an RN and was working in Lincoln Hospital I.C.U.
She was painting her whole life, everywhere, trying different techniques, though she did not receive formal education.
Painting was not her hobby it was her life, unfortunately very short one.
EMIL SILBERMAN
When I enter my studio, I enter a different world of subconscious feelings, new forms and emotions that cannot be expressed in any other way. Capturing this reality is my challenge as an artist.
I grew up in Latvia during the Soviet era. I always knew that I was born to be an artist but by a strange turn of fate, I also became a physician. I chose Emergency Medicine as my specialty and have been working in a busy inner city ER for many years. For a long time I kept the two worlds separated. Then one day I realized that I was streaming ideas from my medical work into my art and the two worlds started to came together. The drama and intensity of emotions in the ER are probably unmatched in any other work environment.
The medical literature reports that a large proportion of ED visits are behavioral and psychiatric in nature. Such patients are most interesting to an artist interested in exploring the human condition and psyche. The facial expressions and forms of the human body distorted by pain and disease provide me with an endless source of ideas and inspiration.
For many years I would not disclose my unique situation out of fear that it would distort the viewer’s perspective, but I now realize that it is hard to understand my art without it. On reflection I also see that my subject matter has shifted over the years from pain and death to satire, social commentary and other less lighter themes. I tend to use my art to express the many ironies of life.
My attitude may sometimes even be interpreted as facetious. I can use my artwork to make light of some very serious issues in society, as I see it today. This satirical style allows me to express my frustrations with society in a humorous manner.