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About Sergii Donovyi
Biography
I was born in Ukraine in 1985. Drawing has been part of my life since childhood — I was always drawing, attended an art club, and later studied at an art school. I wanted to pursue a professional education in art, but never entered an art university because my parents did not believe that art could become a profession capable of providing a stable living.
Today, I consider myself a self-taught artist. My development has been shaped largely by independent study, observing the work of other artists, and constant practice. Artists who made a particularly strong impression on me include Ivan Aivazovsky, Salvador Dalí, Jim Warren, Wojciech Siudmak, and Michael Parkes. In 2000, I was introduced to oil painting for the first time and began spending a great deal of time copying paintings that inspired me, gradually developing a visual language of my own.
My work exists at the intersection of figurative art, symbolism, and surreal imagery. I am drawn to symbolism and use familiar objects, human and animal figures, as well as religious and cultural symbols to create layered compositions in which another level of meaning lies beneath the visible subject.
I am interested in questions of perception, identity, self-deception, and authenticity. I often begin a painting without a clearly formulated idea — starting with a mark, a colour, or a spontaneous visual impulse, and intuitively searching for an image or character. As the work develops, details, symbols, and visual “threads” gradually emerge, leading the viewer toward different possible interpretations. For me, a painting does not have to provide a single definitive answer. It can instead become the beginning of a personal dialogue between the viewer and themselves.
After several early exhibitions, my artistic practice was interrupted for almost four years. I returned to art after moving to Poland at the end of 2023. It was here that I began working actively as an artist again.
Alongside painting, I also work with clay and papier-mâché and create large-scale murals. In 2026, I created a series of large murals for a church in Kraków. This experience became an important stage in my development — not only technically, through working on a much larger scale, but also personally. It confirmed for me that, after such a long break, I had found my place in art again.
I work mainly with oil and acrylic paints. For me, painting is a way of exploring the world, noticing details that might otherwise go unseen, and trying to contain something infinite within the boundaries of a single canvas.
Today, I consider myself a self-taught artist. My development has been shaped largely by independent study, observing the work of other artists, and constant practice. Artists who made a particularly strong impression on me include Ivan Aivazovsky, Salvador Dalí, Jim Warren, Wojciech Siudmak, and Michael Parkes. In 2000, I was introduced to oil painting for the first time and began spending a great deal of time copying paintings that inspired me, gradually developing a visual language of my own.
My work exists at the intersection of figurative art, symbolism, and surreal imagery. I am drawn to symbolism and use familiar objects, human and animal figures, as well as religious and cultural symbols to create layered compositions in which another level of meaning lies beneath the visible subject.
I am interested in questions of perception, identity, self-deception, and authenticity. I often begin a painting without a clearly formulated idea — starting with a mark, a colour, or a spontaneous visual impulse, and intuitively searching for an image or character. As the work develops, details, symbols, and visual “threads” gradually emerge, leading the viewer toward different possible interpretations. For me, a painting does not have to provide a single definitive answer. It can instead become the beginning of a personal dialogue between the viewer and themselves.
After several early exhibitions, my artistic practice was interrupted for almost four years. I returned to art after moving to Poland at the end of 2023. It was here that I began working actively as an artist again.
Alongside painting, I also work with clay and papier-mâché and create large-scale murals. In 2026, I created a series of large murals for a church in Kraków. This experience became an important stage in my development — not only technically, through working on a much larger scale, but also personally. It confirmed for me that, after such a long break, I had found my place in art again.
I work mainly with oil and acrylic paints. For me, painting is a way of exploring the world, noticing details that might otherwise go unseen, and trying to contain something infinite within the boundaries of a single canvas.
Biography
I was born in Ukraine in 1985. Drawing has been part of my life since childhood — I was always drawing, attended an art club, and later studied at an art school. I wanted to pursue a professional education in art, but never entered an art university because my parents did not believe that art could become a profession capable of providing a stable living.
Today, I consider myself a self-taught artist. My development has been shaped largely by independent study, observing the work of other artists, and constant practice. Artists who made a particularly strong impression on me include Ivan Aivazovsky, Salvador Dalí, Jim Warren, Wojciech Siudmak, and Michael Parkes. In 2000, I was introduced to oil painting for the first time and began spending a great deal of time copying paintings that inspired me, gradually developing a visual language of my own.
My work exists at the intersection of figurative art, symbolism, and surreal imagery. I am drawn to symbolism and use familiar objects, human and animal figures, as well as religious and cultural symbols to create layered compositions in which another level of meaning lies beneath the visible subject.
I am interested in questions of perception, identity, self-deception, and authenticity. I often begin a painting without a clearly formulated idea — starting with a mark, a colour, or a spontaneous visual impulse, and intuitively searching for an image or character. As the work develops, details, symbols, and visual “threads” gradually emerge, leading the viewer toward different possible interpretations. For me, a painting does not have to provide a single definitive answer. It can instead become the beginning of a personal dialogue between the viewer and themselves.
After several early exhibitions, my artistic practice was interrupted for almost four years. I returned to art after moving to Poland at the end of 2023. It was here that I began working actively as an artist again.
Alongside painting, I also work with clay and papier-mâché and create large-scale murals. In 2026, I created a series of large murals for a church in Kraków. This experience became an important stage in my development — not only technically, through working on a much larger scale, but also personally. It confirmed for me that, after such a long break, I had found my place in art again.
I work mainly with oil and acrylic paints. For me, painting is a way of exploring the world, noticing details that might otherwise go unseen, and trying to contain something infinite within the boundaries of a single canvas.
Today, I consider myself a self-taught artist. My development has been shaped largely by independent study, observing the work of other artists, and constant practice. Artists who made a particularly strong impression on me include Ivan Aivazovsky, Salvador Dalí, Jim Warren, Wojciech Siudmak, and Michael Parkes. In 2000, I was introduced to oil painting for the first time and began spending a great deal of time copying paintings that inspired me, gradually developing a visual language of my own.
My work exists at the intersection of figurative art, symbolism, and surreal imagery. I am drawn to symbolism and use familiar objects, human and animal figures, as well as religious and cultural symbols to create layered compositions in which another level of meaning lies beneath the visible subject.
I am interested in questions of perception, identity, self-deception, and authenticity. I often begin a painting without a clearly formulated idea — starting with a mark, a colour, or a spontaneous visual impulse, and intuitively searching for an image or character. As the work develops, details, symbols, and visual “threads” gradually emerge, leading the viewer toward different possible interpretations. For me, a painting does not have to provide a single definitive answer. It can instead become the beginning of a personal dialogue between the viewer and themselves.
After several early exhibitions, my artistic practice was interrupted for almost four years. I returned to art after moving to Poland at the end of 2023. It was here that I began working actively as an artist again.
Alongside painting, I also work with clay and papier-mâché and create large-scale murals. In 2026, I created a series of large murals for a church in Kraków. This experience became an important stage in my development — not only technically, through working on a much larger scale, but also personally. It confirmed for me that, after such a long break, I had found my place in art again.
I work mainly with oil and acrylic paints. For me, painting is a way of exploring the world, noticing details that might otherwise go unseen, and trying to contain something infinite within the boundaries of a single canvas.
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