Mahei Yana

She was born on 25 April 1996 in Dubove, Tiachiv district, Transcarpathia. Her father painted well, but he did not associate his profession with art. The daughter started painting since her childhood. She spent a lot of time with her cousins: everybody painted in their family and their father was an amateur artist. During the school period, Yana spent five consecutive years attending a local art school of fine arts.

Subsequently, from 2013 to 2017, she was studying at the Transcarpathian Academy of Arts (Uzhhorod) in the speciality “Painting”. Her teachers were Attila Kopryva and Liudmyla Korzh-Radko.  

Since 2017, immediately after graduating from the academy, she began working as a teacher of fine arts at the Dubove Children's Art School.

The artist combines the pedagogical practice with creativity. She works in oil painting technique. Sharing her feelings from the artistic process, the author noticed: “I like to work in decorative technique, with contrasting colours, mostly on landscapes and still lifes. The most important thing for work is nature. When you see the way everything looks like, the work turns out to be true, not fictitious. Therefore, it is important to travel, to participate in plein airs, to attend exhibitions – it's inspiring!”

Her works are well-constructed compositions, enhanced by a mosaic combination of harmoniously selected colours. The emotions conveyed by the author are felt in them. Contemplating canvases, it sometimes seems that they can serve as a model for creating stained glass or tapestries.

The young artist is inspired by the works of the famous French artist, the leader of the cognitive flow, the master of decorative art Henri Matisse, and the brightest representative of the fauvism Enre Deren. She is also fascinated by the paintings by Vincent van Gogh.

Yana Mahei is a member of the Art Association of Tiachiv region and is preparing to join the youth department of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.

The artist began to take part in exhibitions since her student years. Only during the last period of 2018, her works were presented at three All-Ukrainian exhibitions: Christmas, dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine and the Day of the Artist. This summer, the author participated in the international plein air “Hradec Salon” (Hradec Králové, Czech Republic), and in autumn she opened a personal exhibition in Mukachevo – “Colour Chord”.

Text: Liudmyla Kozlovska
© Art and Culture Foundation Brovdi Art