Today we had a chance to talk with a talented Ukrainian artist and art critic Iryna Fedorenko (SEMIRA), who after the outbreak of war left for Germany with her son and mother and now lives and makes art in Munich. Iryna is known for her incredible portraits, lively eyes look at the viewer from every picture. Dozens of exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world, publications in the media in different countries, Iryna's works are in the collections of several museums and famous people at home.
- Tell us about the story with the portrait of Johnny Depp? We watched this story from your Facebook posts, what was the reality?
- In fact - there was a story longer than 20 years: I draw portraits of Johnny Depp all this time, I learned to draw portraits on Johnny: many images, at the same time - the same face, expressive eyes, I tried to catch him emotions, convey character, as a result - in my collection - a huge number of his portraits, perhaps I am the artist who made the largest number of his portraits, it's time to make an exhibition. After Johnny's concert in Munich, I painted another portrait of him, watching his performance literally a meter away from me, the portrait turned out to be as realistic as possible, a person as he really is, with a slight sadness in his eyes, lonely in the crowd. This picture brought me to Paris, but here - I will not disclose all the details. I returned with inspiration to make new works where he smiles and is happy, I hope this will be the case in his life, my paintings often have the gift of foresight or something magical. Art is, first of all, energy.
- Johnny Depp posted a post with his paintings right after the concert in France, everyone knew that he was also an artist. You exhibited a portrait of Al Pacino at the same time, is that a coincidence?
- Johnny himself is art! Coincidences or patterns - it all depends on what angle you look at everything from. He hasn't shown his work to the public for a long time, now it's time that he decided to do so. I really like his paintings. Perhaps in the near future I will write an article about his work, where I will analyze his work in more depth.
- Tell us, what are you working on now, what projects are you planning?
- I continue the series dedicated to Ukraine - "Children of War", for me it is very important to be able to tell the world about the war in Ukraine, that my hometown of Mariupol was almost completely destroyed, my house was somewhere there, we lost relatives and loved ones, sometimes art can say more than a thousand words. These paintings have been presented at more than 20 exhibitions in museums and galleries in Europe and the USA, and further exhibitions are already planned. I continue the "FACES" series, portraits of those people who are interesting to me, who influenced me in this difficult time, I am doing some creative experiments. Now I have a beautiful studio and gallery at my disposal in the very center of Munich, passers-by often look into the windows when they see how I work. Kandinsky lived and worked nearby, the place is steeped in history. From time to time, friends from Ukraine and not only come to visit me, these are now the most precious moments - to see at least for a while close and beloved people. I, like all of us, dream that the war would end faster, my nerves are so tense, I want a quiet peaceful life, to be able to plan something, to rejoice, to love. I sincerely wish us all peace and victory!
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