Gestures of Emotion and the Language of Color
Petro Hrytsiuk’s paintings stand at the intersection of raw gesture and layered reflection, presenting canvases that pulse with movement, color, and contradiction. His commitment to abstraction is not about obscurity but about opening space for sensation, where the hand of the artist and the energy of lived experience converge. Broad strokes of green and pink clash with fields of crimson, while sudden bursts of deep navy or violet fracture the surface, creating a rhythm that is both disruptive and lyrical. The resulting compositions are not static; they invite viewers to enter into an unfolding conversation of tensions.
The works reveal an understanding of painting as a physical act as much as a visual one. Hrytsiuk’s canvases carry the evidence of scraping, layering, and revision, reminding us that painting here is not performance but persistence. The materials are pushed to their limits, oil and acrylic sometimes blurring their distinctions, producing surfaces that feel at once lush and volatile. In this sense, Hrytsiuk aligns with the tradition of gestural abstraction, but he complicates it by allowing the work to hover between chaos and harmony.
Seen together, these paintings reject the notion of a single narrative. They are instead emotional registers—sometimes luminous, sometimes abrasive—that function as mirrors for the viewer. The eye is drawn into passages of intense saturation only to be unsettled by abrupt ruptures of white or black. This shifting visual tempo is what lends the work its power, creating an oscillation between openness and resistance. In resisting resolution, the paintings remain alive, their energy unfixed.
Petro Hrytsiuk: Between Abstraction and Memory
While abstraction forms the basis of Hrytsiuk’s language, there is a sense that memory and lived experience continually push through the surface. The contrast between his rural beginnings in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and his current life in Lviv seems echoed in the push and pull of his compositions. Sweeping green gestures recall landscapes, yet they are overlaid with urgent pinks and reds that feel tied to human presence and urban intensity. These contrasts create a resonance that is both personal and universal, suggesting that abstraction can carry the trace of place without depicting it directly.
In certain works, faces emerge through the abstraction, rendered with oversized features, exaggerated smiles, and tinted glasses. These portraits resist realism yet embody personality with striking immediacy. The expressive exaggeration recalls elements of neo-expressionism, where the grotesque and the humorous coexist. In doing so, Hrytsiuk opens a dialogue between figuration and abstraction, reminding us that emotion does not always separate from form. These works amplify the social dimension of his practice, suggesting portraits not of individuals but of psychological states.
By blending figural references with gestural abstraction, Hrytsiuk avoids being confined to one tradition. Instead, he situates his practice in a wider field of painters who explore the porous border between memory, identity, and abstraction. His paintings therefore speak not only of individual expression but also of the instability of perception, where recognition flickers in and out. This oscillation strengthens his work, giving it elasticity and a contemporary relevance that reaches beyond regional influences.
Tension, Harmony, and the Act of Painting
At the heart of Hrytsiuk’s practice lies a deep engagement with the act of painting itself. Each canvas carries the residue of movement—brushstrokes that slash across the surface, color fields that collide and overlap, and sections where scraping back reveals the memory of earlier decisions. These choices allow the viewer to feel not only the finished image but the labor and uncertainty of its making. The tension he describes between knowing when to stop and the impulse to continue is visible in every work. This hesitation, far from being a flaw, becomes central to the vitality of the painting.
The color palette he employs—especially the persistent recurrence of pinks, greens, and deep blues—suggests an instinctive vocabulary. Pink shifts from playful brightness to unsettling intensity depending on context; green oscillates between grounding earthiness and surreal vibrancy; blue and black punctuate with depth and weight. Rather than following harmony in a conventional sense, these color relationships operate through friction, creating emotional atmospheres that resist easy categorization. The result is a visual experience that feels both familiar and unpredictable.
Hrytsiuk’s paintings, when viewed in sequence, establish a rhythm akin to music. Certain works feel like crescendos, where color and gesture explode into near-chaotic energy, while others withdraw, focusing on softer tonal interactions. This musicality resonates with his stated desire to capture fleeting states of mind, as if each canvas were a movement in a larger composition. By refusing final resolution, he ensures that the paintings remain dynamic, continually shifting in the viewer’s perception.
Petro Hrytsiuk: Positioning within Contemporary Abstraction
Hrytsiuk’s practice situates him within a lineage of abstract painters yet resists imitation. The gestural intensity recalls Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell, while the chromatic risks nod toward Gerhard Richter’s more experimental canvases. At the same time, his sensitivity to the cultural and historical weight of Ukraine, with its modernist legacies and turbulent present, grounds his work in a specificity that distinguishes it from Western models. This dual positioning allows him to enter global conversations on abstraction while maintaining a rooted identity.
The incorporation of exaggerated portraits within his abstract oeuvre further expands his reach. These works connect him to the resurgence of figuration in contemporary painting, where artists often exaggerate form to comment on identity, humor, or psychological intensity. By merging this impulse with abstraction, Hrytsiuk positions himself at an intersection that resonates with both collectors seeking expressive immediacy and institutions interested in painting’s evolving hybridity. His practice thus has the flexibility to move across audiences and contexts.
Ultimately, the significance of Hrytsiuk’s work lies in its honesty. Each painting resists polish in favor of raw immediacy, embodying his commitment to authenticity. The challenge he identifies—ensuring gestures remain true rather than decorative—is central to his achievement. In navigating this challenge, Hrytsiuk has forged a voice that feels urgent and necessary, contributing to the ongoing vitality of abstraction while expanding its possibilities through personal and cultural inflection. His canvases remind us that painting remains one of the most direct ways to capture the instability of being human.
