Original Oil Painting The Equilibrist Dream (2026) Original Oil Painting by Mariia Bashtova

Title: “The Equilibrist’s Dream
Size: 36 x 48 inches (91 x 122 cm)
Medium: oil paints on gallery wrapped canvas
Year: 2025
Certificate of authenticity included.

This artwork was selected for the 2026 Michigan Fine Arts Competition at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, juried by Marshall N. Price, Ph.D., Chief Curator at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The painting was exhibited at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in July–August 2026.
 
Artist Statement: “The Equilibrist’s Dream” explores the human effort to remain centered in a world that offers no fixed sense of direction. Balance is treated not as a physical skill, but as an inner discipline, a continuous negotiation between uncertainty and self-control.
For me, this idea is inseparable from my connection to Ukraine and from the instability and uncertainty that have become part of its present reality. The work reflects the experience of trying to preserve a sense of identity, belonging, and inner stability while the world I remain deeply connected to is changing in ways I cannot control. The equilibrist becomes a symbol of resilience, not through escaping uncertainty, but through learning to remain centered within it.
At its core, the painting reflects my emotional connection to Ukraine and the effort to remain grounded while carrying concern, memory, hope, and an enduring sense of belonging to a place that remains deeply present within me

Materials used:

Stretched canvas, Oil, Varnish

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 91.44 x 121.92 x 3.81cm (unframed) / 91.44 x 121.92cm (actual image size)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Surrealistic
• Subject: People and portraits