Art Historian in Kyiv Reads Excerpts From Her War Diary at Fundraiser for Ukraine

On April 2, Asia Bazdyrieva, a Ukrainian art historian in Kyiv, joined a fundraiser for Ukraine over a video link to read excerpts from her war diary. It was 2 AM and her face was illuminated only by the screen of her computer. The city does not allow lights at night for fear that they will guide incoming missiles. 

Although the fundraiser was tainted by the war it was also a warm and joyful event. More than 25 artists have generously donated artworks that were on display in an exhibition curated by Bianca Boragi and Meghana Karnik co-curators of The Immigrant Artist Biennial. 100% of sale proceeds went and will continue to go to charity. Beverages were kindly donated by Hudson Whiskey, Coeur Wine, and Bowler Spirits. The community venue Grace Exhibition Space provided the location, and their founders Jill McDermid and Hoke mingled with guests. The fundraiser, called “PHONE HOME,” was co-organized by the Ukrainian-born founder of The Immigrant Artist Biennial Katya Grokhovsky, Jana Astanov the founder of Creatrix, and Cultbytes.

Bazdyrieva reading was gripping. Her excerpts tell of living under constant fear, coming to terms with the noise of sirens and bombs, moments of joy punctured by guilt as her people are under siege: on the run, starving,  and freezing. Performances by Grokhovsky and New York-based Ukrainian-born Kathie Halfin, and a closing ceremony by Tamara Wyndham followed. The event raised $4,800 for the following charities: Ukrainian Art emergency fund, Razom for Ukraine, Voices of Children, Red Cross Ukraine, Fundacja Ocalenie (Salvation Foundation), and UNICEF.  

Please consider donating to the charities above or acquiring one of the works below. Email info@cultbytes.com with the work title in the subject field to submit your bid. Please join us to #StandWithUkraine

THE ART SALE

Paintings

Danny Balgley
STRIDE, 2022.
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 30 inches.

$2,200 SOLD

Danny Balgley’s mode of representation is akin to analytical cubism and shares the modernist drive to replace the figure with abstract form. An accomplished New York painter he has shown with Loretta Howard Gallery, Ziehersmith Gallery, and Stux Gallery, and has been awarded the prestigious Mark Rothko Award.

Chellis Baird
BETWEEN II, 2018
Encaustic monotype, paper, and glue
16 x 19.5 in

$1200 ON HOLD, OR BEST OFFER

Deftly exploring elements of painting, South Carolina-born New York-based artist Chellis Baird blurs the intersection of painting, sculpture, and textiles. In her encaustic, or hot wax, paintings she creates engaging compositions where color and texture intertwine. As a former designer, she is well-equipped to push the boundaries of medium. Recently, Baird has been highlighted in three substantial solo exhibitions: “Meditative Motions” at Louise Nevelson Chapel and Saint Peter’s Church, “Tethered” at Myrtle Beach Art Museum, and “The Touch of Red” which currently is on view at The National Arts Club.

 

Natalia Nakazawa
A SOIL THICK WITH PROMISE  (after Adrienne Maree Brown’s poem, “be careful, I am fertile”)
High density acrylic ink, pen and watercolor pencil on paper
9 x 12 in.
2021

$550, or best offer. 

Natalia Nakazawa is a Queens-based interdisciplinary artist working across the mediums of painting, textiles, and social practice. In vibrant colors, Nakazawa investigates migration, national identity, and cultural heritage in her work. An accomplished artist, her work has recently been exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center, Museum of Arts and Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art, CUE Art Foundation, American Folk Art Museum Gallery, and Honolulu Biennial.

Amanda Michele Brown
SPEAKING IN CODE, 2021.
Watercolor, graphite, and ink on bamboo paper
14 x 19 in.

$465

Amanda Michele Brown is an Arkansas-born and Wisconsin-raised abstract artist currently living and creating in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn, New York. Her colorful and energetic paintings are experiments in duality, balancing chaos with order to visually mirror the dichotomy of feelings tied to memories. A promising emerging artist, her work has been included in groups shows at 404 Gallery, Janet Turner Print Museum, and Trestle Gallery.

Katya Grokhovsky
BURNING, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
11 x 15 in

$350

Katya Grokhovsky
REST, 2022.
Acrylic on canvas
11 x 15 in.

$350

Katya Grokhovsky
UNTITLED WITH FLOWER, 2022.
Acrylic on canvas
11 x 15 in.

$350

Katya Grokhovsky is a Ukrainian-born performance and multi-media artist. Her work is feminist in nature and it has been exhibited widely in institutions across the United States. Grokhovsky has reached many of the most important career milestones receiving recognition through various prestigious grants and fellowships such as BRIC Media Fellowship and Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart Grant as well as being reviewed in The New York Times.

About UNTITLED WITH FLOWER Grokhovsky says: “The flower is a small token of light, of hope, of the future.”

Tamara Wyndham
HAND PRINT BLUE/YELLOW, 2022.
Contact handprint, acrylic and watercolor on paper
8 x 10 in.

$350 SOLD

After moving to New York from Los Angeles, Tamara Wyndham became active in various feminist, political, spiritual and arts communities. These and her travels through Mexico and Central America, as well as Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Czech Republic have left traces in her work. Wyndham has been awarded artist residencies at the Henry Street Settlement, the Kate Millett Art Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, the Mariz Ceramic Workshop in the Czech Republic, Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, and a fellowship from Earthwatch to work in Orce, Spain.

Tracy Penn
REPURPOSED 4, 2021.
Encaustic and upcycled material on paper
Framed Size (h w d): 16 x 12 in

$150 SOLD

Tracy Penn
REPURPOSED 4, 2021.
Encaustic and upcycled material on paper
14 x 11 in (Framed: 16 x 12 in)

$150 SOLD

Brooklyn-based artist Tracy Penn uses discarded objects as a key element in her work to bring attention to the importance of sustainability. Her work is often characterized by distorted grids. In addition, she often works with encaustic, hot wax, adding texture to her pieces. Penn was a resident at the prestigious Chateau d’Orquevaux Artist Residency, in Orquevaux, France, for 2021-2022 and was awarded The Denis Diderot A-i-R Grant.

Drawing

Anastasia Lopoukhine
THE EMPTY CHAIR
Pencil on paper, 2021.
10 x 18 in. (Framed)

$450

Anastasia Lopoukhine creates large scale drawings in various mediums. Her approach is that of a narrator inspired by events in history and by personal experiences. On the page, she skillfully captures moments that emphasize how funny, weird, and grotesque the world can be. During the pandemic she was included in an exhibition at Susan Eley Gallery and has also exhibited in Europe. Lopoukhine graduated with an MFA in Drawing and Printmaking from The New York Academy of Art in 2021.

Sculpture and Mixed Media

Hannah Bigeleisen
SMALL COLUMN, 2022.
Cement, paint
12 x 12 x 12 in.

$550

Hannah Bigeleisen’s studio practice is influenced by theories of visual perception and patterns found in architecture, language and everyday structures. With an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design she is both an artist and designer. Bigeleisen’s design work has been lauded Interior Design Magazine, Architectural Digest, Design Milk and Sight Unseen.

Kathie Halfin
WIDE OPEN #2 ENGLISH MORSE CODE, 2021.
Cotton, metallic floss, flux, wooden rod
18 x 17.5 in.

$500 SOLD

As a Crimean, Ukrainian-born, Israeli raised based in Brooklyn, Kathie Halfin’s work incorporates family history, cross-cultural mythologies and rituals, language patterns and woven messages. She is an accomplished textile and performance artist who has exhibited at many prestigious institutions including Ely Center Of Contemporary Art, Bronx Museum AIM Biennial, A.I.R. Gallery, Itinerant Performance Festival in Smack Mellon, Knockdown Center, Art In Odd Places, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, and the Immigrant Artist Biennial.

Katherine Earle
LOVE WINS II, 2022.
Embroidery on fabric
16 x 20 in.

$250 SOLD

Katherine Earle, a fiber artists and sculptor, uses weaving and embroidery, fiber to engages the elevated and highly conceptual forms of world creation present in decorative arts and craft traditions. Earle has a BFA in Fibres from Concordia University in Montreal, and is a recent recipient of the FST StudioProjects Fund. She has exhibited her thought-provoking work that interacts with environmentalism and philosophical conversations on progess across North America.

Fang Yu Liu
FOR PEACE, 2021.
Macramé plant hanger
approx. 50 in. long.

$50

Fang Yu Liu is a Tawainese crafter and arts administrator based in New York. Her one-of-a-kind vibrant utilitarian pieces will brighten your home.

Arizona Fu
UNTITLED, 2021
Ceramic Vase
4 x 4 in.

$30 SOLD

Arizona Fu
UNTITLED, 2021.
Ceramic Vase
4 x 4 in.

$30 SOLD

Arizona Fu is a Taiwanese ceramicist based in New York. Her delicate ceramic objets d’art employ subtle but complex glazing techniques to achieve their serene and elegant appearance.

Prints and Multiples

Natale Adgnot
IMPLIED VERTICALS
Signed edition #11/30
Silkscreen on paper
24 x 18 in (Framed: 25 x 19 in)

$380

Natale Adgnot is an American-French artist whose graphic compositions blur the line between drawing and sculpture moving through grayscale and colorful palettes. Adgnot earned a BFA in graphic design in Texas and studied fashion in Paris. Her experience making garments by hand for haute couture runways eventually led her to focus on sculpture. While living in Tokyo, she began using thermoplastic to work three-dimensionally. Adgnot has been featured in solo exhibitions at Midori-so Gallery in Tokyo and at Established Gallery in New York.

Amber Heaton
FIBONACCI FIELD, 2015.
Woodcut
8 x 10 in.

$300

Amber Heaton collects materials and data about natural systems including patterns of light and time that she translates into prints, drawings, installations, moving images, and artist’s books. Her enigmatic work has been exhibited at Parrish Museum of Art, International Print Center New York, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and other venues internationally. Heaton received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. In the early 2000s, she was awarded a very prestigious Fulbright Fellowship in South Korea.

Patricia da Silva
UNTITLED OCEAN, 2021
Archival quality limited edition print
Variable size

$300

Patricia da Silva
PINHOLE FLOWER, 2021.
Limited Edition print
Variable size

$300

Patricia Silva is a Lisbon-born photographer and instructor at The School at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Widely exhibited but also recognized, Silva’s work is collected by prestigious collections including Brooklyn Museum, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, Queens Historical Society, and Colorado Photographic Arts Center. They are the recipient of a 2019 Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant, and of two International Center of Photography Director’s Fellowship scholarships.

PINHOLE FLOWER was recently included in an exhibition organized by the British Journal of Photography.

Alisa Minyukova
UNTITLED, 2021.
Archival-quality limited edition print
13x 13 in.

$150

The symbiosis of East and West is imperative to Alisa Minyukova’s practice that centres around heritage, immigration, childhood, memory, and dreams. During her impressive career her performance, video, and drawing has been exhibited in several solo shows in Cologne and in group shows across Europe and the U.S., most notably at Fridman Gallery and Shirley Fiterman Art Center. Intriguingly, she is the co-creator of “The Dream Mapping Project,” an international collaborative research endeavor which bridges dream science with the creative process.

Isabella Ruggiero
A NEW WORLD
Limited edition archival-quality print
Variable dimensions

$70 SOLD

Isabella Ruggiero
VALENTINE
Limited edition archival-quality print
Variable dimensions

$70 SOLD

Isabella Ruggiero
UNTITLED
Print on archival paper
Variable dimensions

$70 SOLD

Isabella Ruggiero is currently in the process of obtaining a Master’s Degree in Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design. She is interested in experimental modes of architectural representation and the limitations and possibilities of 3D space rendered in 2D. Ruggiero’s acute and innovative approach to design stems from having worked closely with many of the world’s leading fashion photographers and growing up in a family of architects.

Bianca Boragi
DIAMONDS, 2022.
Edition of 2
5 x 7 inches

$50

$50 SOLD

A French-Berber, American artist Bianca Abdi-Boragi works across media using sculpture, video, installation, and painting to enact representations of self and others, often using found materials and landscapes as receptacles to address different states of being, with a specific focus on alienation and territory. Abdi-Boragi is an MFA graduate of Yale School of Art and was the recipient of the JUNCTURE Fellowship in Art and International Human Rights from the Yale Law School and has completed several competitive residencies including MASS MoCA.