Yana Movchan

Still Life with Cherub, Cat and Bird

Yanina (Yana) Movchan was born in Kiev in 1971. Yana's sublime mastery of the technique and structure of Renaissance painting combines with the instinctive symbolism of "magical realism" to create a personal neo-realist idiom. Her work is formal yet also playful, contemporary yet timeless, joyous yet also mysterious, evocative, dreamlike.
In Yana's paintings the intellectual and the emotional synthesize to form images that touch the viewer's heart whilst issuing a challenge. There are deeper meanings to be unravelled, hidden clues amongst the hyper-real still lives, portraits and animal scenes; meanings that echo deep in the viewer's unconscious. Reviewers have compared Movchan's work to Velasquez, Colville and Magritte.
Yana trained at the Ukrainian Art Academy. Her Master's thesis project (a triptych entitled "Life on Earth") won the Golden Fund Prize, the Academy's highest art award. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine, Prague, London and Canada. She currently lives in Halifax, Canada.

 Cat with Wings

Exotic-Cat

Still-life-Tiger

Touch of Light

Black-headed Grosbeak