Olena Onufriv belongs to the generation of those young Lviv artists who started working in the 90s of the 20th century. A lot of Ukrainian artists of that period were affected by the end-of-the-century syndrome, characterized by the new-millenium mood and the new decadence. This mood was mainly aimed at learning and re-experiencing all that was beautiful, lofty, extraordinary, painfully sensitive: everything that could be descibed with the word "sublime".
Olena's paintings belong to the works of those artists who "have brought that heady fragrance of hothouse flowers from a marvelous fin-de-siencle conservatory" (Peter Ackroyd) with their longing for something hopelessly beautiful. Flowers colored like absinthe, emotional and tender landscapes, explosions of color all this evokes the mood of the late 19th century with its decadence, sensuality and lightness of being. Olena's paintings evoke a mood similar to the one that Lionel Jonson describes: "Life is a misery, while beauty is sheer bliss. And beauty... oh, beauty! It's just everything that is sublime. You might question the obviosness of the statement. But that is what's amazing, that beauty can demonstrate your unpretentiousness and catholic chastity. Yes, I mean chastity, for beauty is always virginal."
Beauty, in the works of Olena Onufriv is also chaste, light and powerful. Enjoy its pure sublimity.
Bogdan Shumylovych
Art Historian