Valeriya Shebelnichenko, Self Series: Intro-Inspection, Oil Painting, 2022

"Serie dell’Io: Intro - ispezione" (eng: Self series: Intro – inspection) is an original painting realized by Ukrainian artist Okno in 2022. Oil, bronze powder and spray cans on canvas personally built by the artist. Hand signed. Excellent conditions. This work is part of the artist's collection of oil paintings. The liveliness of the colours and the various pictorial techniques used are crowned by the refinement of the details. The painting is embellished with bronze powder that gives it a brilliant touch and coexists with the spray cans in perfect harmony. Some points are deliberately left to drip to add a raw and truthful touch. It is in fact a self-portrait of hers in which she investigates her identity and intimacy. The right arm, the one the artist uses to paint, is intact but almost hidden, while the left arm is amputated and seems almost not to be part of the body. It is a self-determination of her person. The deceptive perspective makes the picture almost surrealistic, creating an illusory space. The painting is full of symbols, note the bronze cup in the background, placed in front of the window, the only escape route from the room. The artist thus gifts an intimate moment, making the viewer immerse in the depths of her being and observer of her emotions. Valeriya Shebelnichenko, aka Okno, was born in Ukraine in 1996. Painter and performer, she currently lives and works in the city of Turin, Italy. She moved to Italy in 2004 and studied at the Art and Music High School in Forlì, obtaining her diploma in 2016. with her emotional approach to painting and performance, she manages to involve the viewers by making them part of her experiences. Okno’s works have been shown in the cities of Venice, Milan, Turin, Pisa, Rimini, Forlí, Edinburgh, she arrived as a finalist in the Arte Laguna Prize and exhibited in the spaces of the Venetian North Arsenale. Her career, albeit young, denotes various collaborations, aimed at creating an artistic dialogue that involves multiple senses.