EDUCATION

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
The University of St. Petersburg, Russia

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

2007 "Serene Landscapes" (two artists), Evolving Art Gallery, SF, Ca "The Vanishing Point", Maturango Museum, Ca, 2006-2007
2006-2007 "The Vanishing Point", Maturango Museum, Ca
2005-2006 "At the Threshold" UC Berkeley, CA
2005 "Beyond the Walls", Rogue Community College, OR
2005 College of the Sequoias Art Gallery, Ca
1998 Zona Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1997 Peninsula Art Museum, "Rooms and Landscapes", CA
1996 Miller - Barns Gallery, Moss Beach, CA
1991 Creative Artists Network Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

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

AWARDS

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.

Irena Kononova

Artist Statement

I intend to provoke the viewers into contemplating the ever widening gap between man-made world and eternal world of nature that we so often are unable to protect. Gazing through the openings into the "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns" (Hamlet), a viewer is invited to reflect on our notion of reality. Frame like compositions evoke Platonic myth in which dwellers of the cave are striving to get a glimpse of the outside world.

To communicate the juxtaposition of rough daily reality and idyllic (and idealized) landscape, I often use the differences in luminosity and textures: coarse, expressionistic treatment of the interior is played against smooth, flowing paint in a landscape fragment.

Exploration of the form of "pure" landscape is an important part of my vision. In these pieces I dissolve duality and tension of "here" and "there." Through luminosity of endless unrolling space I try to invite viewers to travel to the realm of peace and balance. In these paintings sand mixed with oils becomes a symbolic gesture of reconciliation between the world of art and the world of nature.