IRENA KONONOVA
Irena Kononova is a Russian born artist who presently resides in the Bay Area. She graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where she was a recipient of a Cresson Traveling Scholarship and various prizes.
During her years in Philadelphia Irena had won a prestigious juried show at the Fleisher Art Memorial and was interviewed many times for major newspapers. She was featured in a dialogue on Art in Exile on the Fresh Air program on the National Public Radio. Ms. Kononova was a member of a Creative Artists Network in Philadelphia.
Before moving to California, Ms. Kononova was commissioned to create a cycle of monumental murals for the Wyeth Worldwide Headquarters. This work was dedicated to the relationship between the man-made world and nature.
In California Ms. Kononova collaborates successfully with art galleries as well as with the educational and non-for-profit institutions. In 1997, the Peninsula Art Museum presented Ms. Kononova’s work in a one artist show. The 2005 College of the Sequoias show was covered by The Fresno Bee in an editorial article. In 2006 her paintings were featured to critical acclaim in “Atmospheres” – an invitational three artists exhibition at the Arts Benicia Gallery.
Irena is a part of the artists’ colony in the Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco where she is engaged in the yearly Open Studios events.
2007 “Serene Landscapes”, Evolving Art Gallery, SF, Ca
2006-2007 “The Vanishing Point”, Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest, Ca
2006-2007 “The Vanishing Point”, Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest, Ca
2005-2006 “At the Threshold”, UC Berkeley, CA
2005 “Beyond the Walls”, Rogue Community College, OR
2005 College of the Sequoias Art Gallery, Visalia, Ca
1998 Zona Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1997 Peninsula Art Museum, "Rooms and Landscapes", CA
1996 Miller - Barns Gallery, Moss Beach, CA
1992 Art Alliance of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Creative Artists Network Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Reflection of the Bay, Cal Modern Gallery, SF, CA
2008 Evolving Art Gallery, SF, Ca
2006 Marin Society of artists, National Juried Exhibition, Ca
2006 “Atmospheres”, (3 artists) Arts Benicia Gallery, CA
2004 Art Museum of Los Gatos, CA
2004 Anne Bradford Gallery (4 artists), Healdsburg, CA
2004 Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA
2004 “Myth, Magic, and Metaphor”, Union Street Gallery, IL
2004-2002 Domont Studio Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
2001 Scene/Unseen, Eastern New Mexico University, NM
2001 Coutts Memorial Museum of Art, El Dorado, KS
2000 K. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota (4 artists), Minneapolis, MN
1998 All California Juried Exhibition, San Diego Museum of Art, CA
1998-1995 Berman E.N. Gallery, NY, NY
1996 American Artist Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1993-1991 F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1989 “The Challenge" (3 artists), Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Nexus Gallery, “Art in Exile” Show, Philadelphia, PA
Cypress Financial Corporation, SF, CA
Minyard Morris, Inc., Newport Beach, CA
Omnicom Group, Inc., NY, NY
McGraw - Hill Companies, Columbus, Ohio
Centeon, Inc., King of Prussia, PA
GlaxoSmithKline U.S. Corporate Headquarters, Collegeville, PA
Kimberton Inn, Valley Forge, PA
Terramics Property Company, Wayne, PA
Karafin, Gruenstein, P.C., Bala Cynwyd, PA
Black Book Marketing Group, NY, NY
Marin Society of Artists- 2006
Los Gatos Art Association- 2005
Santa Cruz Art League-2004
Sebastopol Center for the Arts-2003
Main Line Center of the Arts-1991
Cresson Traveling Scholarship-1987
Benjamin West Prize-1987
Simone C. Titone Prize-1987
Sunset Magazine (photo),CA, Nov. 2008
The Daily Independent,CA, Nov. 2006
The Reporter,CA, Apr. 2006
Vallejo Times-Herald,CA, Apr. 2006
Terra Nova Magazine,CA, Oct. 2005
Grants Pass Daily Courier, OR, Aug. 2005
The Fresno Bee,Fresno, CA, Feb. 2005
Dream Home Magazine (photo), Indianapolis, IN, Sept. 2003
Scene/Unseen catalogue, NM, Nov. 2001
Branches Magazine (cover), Indianapolis, IN, Nov.-Dec. 2001
Spirit and Place, Purdue University, IN, Nov. 2001
H2O Project Catalog, Tallahassee, FL, Aug. 2000
San Mateo Times, CA, Oct. 1997
Enquirer-Bulletin, San Mateo, CA, October 8. 1997
Novoye Russkoye Slovo, New York, NY, Jan. 1994
Aurora Literary Magazine, St. Petersburg, Russia, Jan. 1992
Art Matters, Philadelphia, Oct. 1991
Art Matters, Philadelphia, Feb. 1991
University City Review, Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1990
University City Review, Oct. 12, 1990
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 20, 1988
Art Matters, July-August, 1987
Philadelphia Daily News, July 23, 1987
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 1987
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1987
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1987, Philadelphia, PA
I intend to provoke the viewers into contemplating ever widening gap between the man-made world and eternal world of nature. My meditative, romantic landscapes seem to be imbued with a peaceful mood; however, after more attentive viewing they present more disturbing, dark notes, reminding us that we so often are unable to protect this beauty.
The works create a bridge between abstraction and reality. I seek to open up a realm of pictorial persuasion and enigma and treat a canvas as an arena where light and color can perform. Light is a visual metaphor for the essence of the world’s energy and it is the most significant element of my pictorial language. It appears both as a natural phenomenon, coming from the sky and illuminating the objects and as an inner burning force making the objects to glow from within. The textured impastos serve as climbing footholds for the light. Often these impastos as well as glazes are applied by hand with a rag. I cherish the immediacy of a contact with the surface of a painting. By eliminating the intermediary of the brush or the knife, I merge more directly with the physical matter of the paint and through it with the world that it depicts. Moisture and dirt after all are the foundation of both the outdoor environment and the painting.
The use of leaks and the sand carries the realization of the metaphor: turpentine leaks represent fluidity of water. Sand mixed with oils becomes a symbolic gesture of reconciliation between Art and Nature.