UKRAINE BLEEDING

ROMAN ZILINKO was born in 1979 in Ternopil, Ukaraine.
In 2001 he graduated from the LvivTheologicalAcademy(now the UkrainianCatholicUniversity).

In 2003 he completed his Master degree at the CatholicUniversity in Lublin. From 2003- 06 he did doctoral studies at the Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Art History.

Of his work he writes (before the present conflict with Russia):

I work in the area of religious art, but I try to be as simple and clear as possible. I gain my inspiration from folk religious art, naive, and kitsch. I hope that my icons are about love and friendship between God and people. I do also believe that my artwork is about searching for a lost childhood, either personal or collective.

Nowadays, we live in a time of extremes and clashes between radical thoughts, including those related to faith and religion. Maybe that is why I try to hide behind infantility in my artwork, lower the tension, and evoke pure thoughts and childhood memories.

I like to use "objects with history" as the basis for my paintings, such as old wood boards, chests, door and table tiles, pieces of a home weaving cloth... By the name token, I try to save them from a garbage can, as much as gain a grain of peace for myself."

He finds inspiration in traditional village icons from Ukraine’s Carpathian region with their naïve, flat painting style, rich in colors and ornaments. Schooled in theology, he works as the Director of Exhibitions at the Andrei Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv.  Roman uses “objects with history” like old wooden boards, panels from chests and doors, and homespun cloth in creating folk art-styled works. Painting with acrylics is his only concession to modernity.