Ola Rondiak

Ola Rondiak’s paintings stem from her family’s experiences living in Ukraine during the historical events of WWII, Stalin’s Iron Curtain, the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. These events shaped Ola Rondiak’s world view. Emotional experiences surface in her artworks as her own history intertwines with Ukrainian history and tradition, preparing the viewer with a rare "contemporary art with a historical conscious." As stated by Kathrine Page (Delaware Contemporary Museum), Rondiak “harvests a bold new, deeply personal prototype emblematic of feminine tenacity stitched in truth through the thread of her own story. Rondiak’s creativity cuts the cloth of a new absolute beauty with a redemptive quality that clearly understands the important healing role of art and the psyche for future generations.” The female image looms large, and for Ola Rondiak, the female portrait underpins the terrain for truth and dignity on her canvases and installations. "Her large ultra-flat paintings derived from Byzantine medieval mural painting offer a local shared symbology imbued with historical reference, made contemporary by the use of Post-Modernist techniques." (Juan Puntes, Whitebox, NYC) Her contemporary "Motanka" sculptures, inspired by ancient Ukrainian rag dolls, serve as a talisman for good health, fortune, and healing. Rondiak's Neo-Pop sculptures, made from her children's clothing covered with plaster of paris and old signs or homework papers, are a testament to better times, a notion of passing time and morphing histories. Rondiak earned her BS degree at Hunter College and later her M.Ed when she worked as a psychotherapist. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally, most recently at the John William Gallery in Wilmington, Delaware and the Vozianov Studio in Kyiv, Ukraine. Prior solo exhibits include the Maidan Museum and RA Gallery in Kyiv, Ukraine, The Shevchenko National Museum and The National Museum of Decorative Art in Kaniv, Ukraine, the Honchar Museum in Kyiv, US Embassy in Kyiv and Tri--Mission Art Gallery in the American Embassy in Rome, Italy, Dzyga Gallery in Lviv, Ukraine, The Ukrainian Institute of America in NYC, the Delaware Contemporary Museum in Wilmington, DE, Zorya Fine Art Gallery in Greenwich, CT, as well as The Ukrainian National Museums in Cleveland and Chicago. Multiple group exhibitions include Palm Beach Modern & Contemporary (2022), Context Art Miami (2018, 2019, 2021), and Hudson River Museum (2020). In 2020 her simultaneous US-Ukraine exhibit "Metempsychosis" incorporated a bi-continental panel discussion in The Revolution of Dignity Museum (Kyiv) and WhiteBox-Harlem (NYC) transmitted in real time via web stream hosted by The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Rondiak’s work is part of a permanent collection of The Revolution of Dignity Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, The Ukrainian Embassy in Bern Switzerland, Shevchenko Museum & National Museum of Decorative Arts in Kaniv, Ukraine, Ukrainian Embassy in Paris, Hudson River Museum in New York and private collectors. Rondiak’s landmark painted mural in the historic district of Kyiv, Ukraine, is a prominent part of Kyiv’s Street Art explosion.