Four emotional pastels presented here can be roughly united into two series or even diptychs.
These two paintings work in unison and show consequences of any conflict: When bombs throw people’s houses around a city - people that lived there get scattered all over the world.
Ruined City (can be displayed horizontally or vertically)
pastel on paper, 13.8 x 19.7 in
Created on June 27, 2022
Instead of being literal and painting ruined buildings with holes from shelling, Alexander portrays houses as if they were simply picked up and tossed by some invisible force.
in private collection
Scattered Around the World (can be displayed horizontally or vertically)
pastel on paper, 13.8 x 19.7 in
Created on June 27, 2022
This painting has a double meaning. One is that before, all Ukrainian people stayed together in one land, for decades growing closer and building national ties. Now, because of the war, about 10% are scattered all over the world, the ties are being broken, some will come back, many will not. Another theme here is that not all are marked with the Ukrainian flag which shows that this problem of conflict and dissemination of nations is not exclusive to Ukrainians. Many lived and are living through the same tragedy.
The Road Home. Return
pastel on paper, 13.8 x 19.7 in
Created on May 14, 2022
This piece evokes a feeling of nostalgia and that bittersweet moment when you return home after a long and complicated journey. The rhythm here is meant to mimic the movement of trees outside of a car window as you drive by. It was painted in May after the Russian forces were forced out of the north of Ukraine and a glimmer of hope appeared. Many who fled began coming back, cities were coming back to life. It felt like it would be over soon.
Red Forest
pastel on paper, 13.8 x 19.7 in
Created on May 9, 2022
This painting has a sad and sinister meaning. When Chornobyl disaster happened, the first and the most contaminated cloud descended on a small patch of forest nearby turning it red-orange virtually overnight. For decades this area has been off limits and deemed one of the most dangerous on Earth. In recent years the radiation subsided, but the soil remained very dangerous. When the Russian forces took over that area, out of ignorance and the lack of respect to the land they were on, they began digging trenches in that forest. This had disastrous consequences for a lot of Russian soldiers, many were later admitted to hospitals in Belarus with acute radiation poisoning.
About the creator of the Conflicted Art project:
Yevgen Nemchenko came to the United States from Ukraine 20 years ago. He has been an art and antiques collector for over 10 years focusing primarily on local and American art. However, when the invasion happened, he felt he had to help the situation in the only meaningful way he could. Yevgen used his network in the Ukrainian art world to purchase a number of works with the goal of helping artists personally and giving them and their work more global exposure. Doing so would encourage a way of looking beyond the often hyper-visual, dehumanizing, and sensationalist media pieces, but instead to look at Ukraine and the wider context of the war through the humanity, creativity, and personal stories coming of Ukrainian artists. Yevgen would like to thank his wife Kristina for her constant encouragement and support throughout this project, his longtime friend, Oleg V., for helping with graphic design and sharing in the costs, as well as a good friend, James Gregg, for his academic eye and editing.