Page 73 - ArtUnlimited

Large compositions, rendered in wide, meanders of imagination, but to create
bold brushstrokes and pure colors, mobilizing slogans which proved to be
remind us of André derain’s fauvism ultimately meaningless, felt the need
or of Matisse. One is compelled to get to express what he felt and not what he
closer, to immerse into this dynamic uni- was required to feel. The result was that
verse, fascinated by the aura of energy his first exhibition, where he presented
and the vibrant touch, to examine the to the public his beautiful landscapes
buoyancy of color, and to understand and compositions, was quickly censored
more about the mastery of the artist who and more than half of his paintings were
was able to create them. The universe removed before the public was allowed
which Leon Oks introduces us to is a in. For an artist that had dedicated his
joyful and energetic one, of luscious existence to beauty, this was not a
primary colors and shapes which coa- deterrent.
lesce to create a form which is new but
in the same time strangely familiar. At On the contrary, it was proof that he
a closer look, some of the paintings are had indeed struck a sensitive a chord,
almost figurative, but the silhouettes which the system acknowledged as
are not the ones we are accustomed to damaging to the official policy, and
see; they have reminisce natural forms that the road he had taken was not an
which seem to be floating into an almost easy one, but it was certainly one worth
primordial movement, linked to the fun- pursuing, because it was a pilgrimage
damental rhythms of life, and trigger an towards unaltered beauty and towards
almost unconscious response from us, sharing it with ever yone that had
that connects us to the same movement. enough courage to be willing to under-
take the same journey. By removing
Oks was born in the Ukraine, a former his paintings, the officials acknowled-
soviet republic, and like many other ged something Oks must have already
artists that lived in a society where known subconsciously: that beauty
the focus of official culture was not to and especially artistic freedom repre-
explore the beauty of inner life and the sent a threat to any repressive society.

 WhITE gRACEs, 2011 OIL ON CANvAS 36X18 IN. /91,5X45,5 CM.
 LATE oCTobER, 2011 OIL ON CANvAS 22X30 IN. /55,5X76 CM.

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