In 1991 an IREX grant enabled me to travel for the first time to my ancestral homeland, Ukraine. This trip opened my eyes and soul to a land beautiful but ravaged by the Soviet system, a long-suffering yet hopeful people, and a rich culture undergoing reclamation and rebirth. I experienced the compelling visitation of Ukraine’s weighty history - from the horrific 1932-33 Famine artificially induced by Stalin’s political collectivization policy, to the more recent 1986 nuclear plant explosion in Chornobyl. A deep interest in the human condition, at the heart of my painting for a long time, took new form and urgency in my creative work. The process and images became layered in material and time, incorporating numerous changes and revisions.

Like other generations of creative individuals, I grew up in two cultures: the historical hereditary culture passed on and nurtured by my displaced immigrant family, and the culture of the place into which I was born and raised, where I continue to live and work. Like others, I wish to share and express my own particular cultural mix and, in so doing, touch the common core of all humanity.

Whether comical or solemn, metaphoric or naturalistic, all the “players” in my art are meant to evoke a kind of longing and reverie, and to provoke a sense of wonder.