Information about the work
Festive Still Life [Natyurmort svyatkovyy] (canvas, oil, 1989, transferred to the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum collection by the Directorate of Art Exhibitions of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine in 1991). The title precisely mirrors the mood generated by the work—a burst of positive emotion achieved, paradoxically, through a highly restrained color palette. It is precisely his nuanced rendering of light that creates this joyful atmosphere. The still life surges with dynamism and expression. Inanimate objects—a pitcher, a cup with a saucer, a vase filled with wheat ears and poppy pods, and paintbrushes in a glass—virtually come to life on the canvas through the painter’s mastery. By incorporating the tools of the trade into the composition, he asserts that the creative process itself is happiness and a daily celebration. Antonyuk demonstrates how a cohesive painterly composition emerges from seemingly chaotic brushstrokes of varying intensity.
Oil on canvas. 100 × 120