"Бегство в детство". Персональная выставка живописи Андрея Коваленко. Одесса.Литературный музей.2019

Andrii Kovalenko is a graduate of "Grekovka", a participant in numerous all-Ukrainian and international exhibitions, biennials and plein-airs. Andrii's works are in museums in Odessa, Kyiv, Kanev, Pryluky, in private collections in Ukraine and abroad.
Expression is important for me in creativity, free interpretation of space and time, color saturation, the energy of gesture captured in the line, - Andrii said at the opening. - I think the main thing when creating a picture is not to be a slave to nature - the work must breathe. Each picture is a small story that goes from my heart to the heart of the viewer.
In addition to bright, colorful paintings, there are also monochrome ones at the exhibition - "White Day", for example, but this winter sketch seems to be colored: look closely - and you can distinguish the color of the clothes of passers-by, the walls of houses, that's what's amazing.
Andrii retains the ability to remain a child, - said art historian Olga Tarasenko. - In childhood, we are surrounded by a world of integrity, where there are no boundaries between truth and imagination. An adult is like a knight in armor, but these armor protects him not only from evil. Andrii Kovalenko encourages us to sympathize with the heroes of his paintings, reveals the most closed and isolated heart. Improvisation is characteristic of his art; he combines a literary beginning with color revelation.
Kovalenko's work is closest to neo-primitivism, which should not be confused with primitiveness, in fact, this style is fraught with its own difficulties.
Thank you for your courage, sincerity, kindness, you are very beautiful internally and externally, - Anatoly Gorbenko, head of the Odessa organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, addressed the author. - I remember your academic work in Sednev, it showed that classical solutions are also subject to you. Now you do it your way.