Russian-born artist Lyudmila Agrich includes us all in her visual diary.
By Jan Thompson
 |
| Artist Lyudmila Agrich returns to Mirada Fine Art for her new 'Impressionable' exhibition. |
A childhood spent in the beautiful
seaside city of Odessa, Ukraine, has had a lifelong influence on artist
Lyudmila Agrich. Lush and luminous
canvases have become her trademark, capturing the very light that entranced her
as a child. Her newest work, to be
unveiled at Mirada Fine Art on October 8th, once again reveals the
mastery of her craft. Entitled
“Impressionable: A Visual Journey,” the collection of paintings allows us to
join Agrich along this wondrous artistic path.
 |
| Lyudmila Agrich at Mirada Fine Art, Nocturnal Etude, Oil on Canvas, 48" x 30" |
The journey Lyudmila Agrich took
to arrive at this point in her life has not always been easy. Many years spent in the Odessa School of
Fine Arts as a child and a Bachelors degree in Architecture and Fine Arts
helped perfect her instinctual artistic talent. After practicing Architecture in the Ukraine for a few
years, Lyudmila literally won the lottery, the Diversity Visa Lottery (or green
card lottery), allowing her and several members of the family to move to the
U.S. in 1992. Her husband was not
as fortunate, spending time in a refugee camp before being allowed to join his
wife here. Throughout both success
and tribulations, however, art has been a constant in Agrich’s life. Settling in Denver, she pursued her
career in Architecture for a few years. In 2001 Lyudmila decided to replace her
drafting board, and devote herself to painting full-time. For her, painting is not a job, a
career, or even a choice. She
cannot fathom not answering the call of Art.
 |
| Lyudmila Agrich at Mirada Fine Art, 'Street Tango,' Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24" |
Frustrated by the
limitations of a paintbrush, today Agrich’s tool of choice is a palette knife.
This allows her to thickly apply lush color, imparting her hallmark
impressionist glow. Pictorial
travels through radiant cityscapes, fields of flowers and seaside sunsets are
captured with this layered application of color. The newest collection of work not only evokes Lyudmila’s
physical and emotional travels, but also allows viewers to recall their
own. Influenced by the music that
always accompanies her while painting, Agrich strives to impart particular
emotion onto each canvas. And
while undeniably beautiful, her work is meant to be much more. “I want my paintings to be more than
just pretty,” Agrich states. “The feeling I’m painting is as important as the scene
I’m painting.” She has been hugely
successful at capturing that feeling on canvas. Viewers of her work at Mirada Fine Art regularly exclaim how
a particular painting reminds them of not only a location they’ve been to, but
also brings them back to that moment, and exactly how they felt then, recalling their own personal journeys.
 |
| Lyudmila Agrich, 'Autumn Park,' Oil on Canvas, 36" x 36" |
A reception with Lyudmila
Agrich will be held on Friday, October 5 from 6-9pm at Mirada Fine Art Gallery. The exhibit will run from October 6 – November
4. Located just west of Denver in
Indian Hills, quickly and easily accessible from most Denver metro
neighborhoods, the gallery is on Parmalee Gulch Road off Hwy 285, five miles
west of C-470.
 |
| Lyudmila Agrich, 'Sunny Field,' Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48" |
No comments:
Post a Comment