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Liudmila Davydenko
Ukraine
Misha Piskur
Ukraine
Oksana Fedchyshyn
Israel
Myroslava Perevalska
Ukraine
Maria R Saunders
Portugal
Lisette van Hoogenhuyze
Portugal
Carolina Sardinha
Portugal
Dasha Tsapenko
Netherlands
Some artists speak through colours, others through form, but with Liudmila Davydenko, it’ something more - something beneath the surface, beneath even the layers of paint she so meticulously applies to her canvases. I first came across her work at an exhibition in Vienna, where her paintings, rich in texture and introspection, seemed to hold something unseen, something just out of reach. I knew then that I needed to understand her process, to see her world through her own eyes.
Our visit to her studio in Lviv was planned after a long working session with my co-founders. It was a chance to engage directly with an artist whose work had left an impression on me. When we arrived, the setting was unexpectedly cinematic, her studio was nestled inside an old Soviet industrial building, its long, dimly lit corridors stretching endlessly like something out of Kubrick’ The Shining. There was a strange stillness in the air, a kind of suspended time, which somehow made the vibrancy of her paintings even more striking.
Stepping into her workspace, I was immediately met with the scent of oil paint and the quiet discipline of an artist deeply immersed in her craft. Liudmila belongs to a generation of artists for whom patience and precision are second nature. Her early training as a sculptor is evident in the way she approaches her paintings - not as flat compositions, but as something three-dimensional, something that carries weight and substance. She doesn’ simply paint; she constructs. Every piece undergoes an intricate layering process, sometimes up to eight layers deep, giving the final work a sense of depth that feels almost geological, as if revealing different strata of meaning.
Mykhailo Piskur (b. 1995, Ukraine), is an artist an artist who splits his time between Rivne and Kyiv.
Piskur’s work is centred around themes human relationships, self-belief, and the diverse positioning of individuals in society.
A recurring concept in his art is internal stigma, which he explores through simple, almost naive imagery. His style evokes a childlike perception, marked by sensitivity and a quest to uncover the good in every person.
Oksana Fedchyshyn (b. 1999, Ukraine) is an artist based in Ukraine. Graduated in Painting at Lviv State College of Decorative and Applied Arts Ivan Trush and in Graphic Design at Lviv National Academy of Arts.
Fedchyshy is inspired by folk art, mythology, and people. She often turns to the topic of the human connection with nature and the metamorphosis of bodies. Her art becomes a dialogue between inner and outer worlds, where humans and animals coexist in harmony, sometimes merging with each other to reveal deeper truths about who we are.
In her work, Fedchyshy often turns to simple naive motifs, images of various fictional, often zoomorphic characters. Such visual images easily arose from poems rich in aphorisms and metaphors. Works of their kind conduct a constant dialogue with poetry.
In 2018, she was awarded the Index Mariusz Kazana competition prize and held her first solo exhibition. Since then, she has exhibited her work in solo and group shows across Ukraine, Poland, and Germany.
Some artists paint what they see. Others paint what they dream. Myroslava Perevalska paints what she feels, and, more importantly, what she fears losing. In a world rushing forward, she is an artist who asks us to slow down, to breathe, to see before the colours fade, before the emotions slip away, before time moves beyond our grasp.
When we spoke, she described her connection to art in a way I had never heard before. “ think of myself as a fish,” she told me. “ fish that doesn’ question the water, that doesn’ think about how deep it swims. It just exists.” Art is her element, her lifeblood, and her way of understanding the world. It’ why, even as war reshapes the reality around her, she continues to create, not just as a form of resistance but as a way to document the truth as she experiences it.
Her paintings are immediately recognisable, figures emerging from bold, urgent strokes of red, white, and black. Red, she told me, is the colour of life, of passion, of survival. It pulses through her work, a constant heartbeat. But it is also the colour she fears losing. “ greatest happiness,” she said, referencing Borges, “ when a blind man dreams of red.” The idea of losing that sensation, of not being able to feel the depth of colour, is her deepest fear. But instead of running from it, she embraces it, pours it into her canvases, ensuring that even if time erodes memory, the intensity of her vision remains.
As we talked, her thoughts spiralled outward - philosophy, history, technology, even the fate of humanity. “ are all on the Titanic,” she told me. “ comfortable but unaware of what’ coming.” The world is changing too quickly. Wars, pandemics, artificial intelligence, isolation. She fears we are forgetting how to truly be present. That people are becoming less human. She sees this loss reflected in modern art, how simple narratives and raw emotion are disappearing, replaced by a detachment from the soul of creation.
Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, a semester in Accademia di Brera Milan, Master in Fine Arts at the
Chelsea College of Art & Design UAL, London.
Maria has been working exclusively at her studio for the past ten years, showing her work in London, Lisbon and Oporto in several group and individual exhibitions.
It's in the studio that she finds her identity and works to justify her existence. It's also here that she compulsively reads, writes and
paints.
Her work draws significant inspiration from literature, aiming to reflect on the duality of woman's life - the contrast between the profession and the domestic role as a family caregiver. She explores the contemporary female experience, celebrating the boldness of womanhood.
Saunders has received recognition as a Signature Art Prize Finalist at Old Spitafields Market in London and was the finalist for São ou Não at Galeria São Mamede in Lisbon.
More recently, she has been expanding her studio work and working as a Montessori Art Guide at Kairos Montessori School, with children between 6 and 12 years old.
Lisette van Hoogenhuyze (1991), was born in The Hague, Netherlands. She graduated Art History at the UvA before she finished her degree in Fine Art in 2019 at the University of Arts Utrecht. She now lives and works in Lisbon. Lisette is a multimedia artist who developed a particular interest in a combination of textile, paint and printmaking. She has exhibited in Museum Ijssellstein, Torch Gallery (Amsterdam) and Saatchi gallery (London) among other institutions. Her work is in the KPMG art collection, the Büyükkusoglu collection, the collection of the National government of The Netherlands and in various private collections in New York, Slovakia, Italy and the Netherlands.
Carolina Sardinha born in 1982, lives and works in Lisbon.
Academic training:
. Drawing Development Year at The Royal Drawing School, London (2024-ongoing);
. Opened her own Studio, devoting herself entirely to her practise since then (2020);
. Tutorial Scheme at Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon (2018 - 2020);
. Aquatint Training at Galeria Diferença, Lisbon (2014 - 2015);
. Engraving Techiniques Training at Taller José Rincón Gallery, Madrid (2013 - 2014);
. Drawing Education at CIEAM, Faculdade de Belas Artes, Lisbon (2009 - 2010);
. Wood block Printmaking Training at the National Print Museum, Dublin (2008 - 2009);
. Socrates Erasmus Program, Università Degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome (2003 - 2004);
. Degree in Architecture from Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon (2006).
Selected Individual Exhibitions:
. Matter | Mist, Azenhas do Mar (2023);
. Reallocated, CCSL Advogados, Lisbon (2020);
. Ageing Series, OH | OS, Lisbon (2019);
. Essay on Ma, Ler Devagar Bookshop, Lisbon (2019);
. La piel de las Cosas, Taller José Rincón Gallery, Madrid (2015).
Selected Group Exhibitions:
. Group Show at Livraria Sá da Costa, Lisbon (2022);
. Finalists Exhibition, Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon (2019);
. Printmaking Exhibition, Galeria Diferença, Lisbon (2016);
. Selected Artists Exhibition, Casa de La Moneda, Madrid (2015);
. Printmaking Artists Exhibition, Casa de Cultura del Ayuntamiento de Carmona, Carmona (2014).
Prizes:
. Selected Artist for Collection “The Mediterranean”, The Curators (2020);
. Jóvenes Creadores de Calcografía Nacional Prize from the Real Academia de Belas Artes de de San Fernando de Madrid (2014).
Collections:
Her work is represented in private collections in Portugal and abroad.
Some artists paint. Some sculpt. But Dasha Tsapenko grows her art.
I remember the first time I encountered her work, it wasn’ just visually striking, it was revolutionary. It blurred the line between creation and cultivation. Dasha doesn’ see herself as the sole author of her works; instead, she collaborates with nature itself. Her textiles, garments, and installations are not merely crafted, they are nurtured. She prepares the foundation, then steps back to allow fungi, fibres, and microorganisms to shape the outcome. What emerges is something completely unique - art that breathes, evolves, and ultimately becomes part of the world in a way that traditional works never could.
Her studio is unlike any I’ seen before. It’ not just a workshop, it’ part textile lab, part microbiology station, part experimental farm. A place where science and creativity intertwine seamlessly. She works with living organisms, primarily mycelium, the vast underground network of fungi that connects trees and plants beneath forests. But here, in her hands, mycelium doesn’ just connect nature, it creates. It grows into textiles, forming intricate patterns and textures, embedding itself into the very fabric of her art.
It’ a process that is at once scientific and poetic. The unpredictability of working with living materials means that no two pieces are ever the same. She carefully prepares the ground, sometimes weaving or sewing textiles in a particular way to encourage the fungi’ growth in a desired form. But the final result? That’ left to nature.
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