Opening Reception: Andriy Naboka: Awakening

Andriy Naboka: Awakening
opening reception: Friday, February 9, 5-8 pm
on view: February 9–March 2, 2024

Awakening features the unique textile work of Andriy Nabob at gallery716. The artist reception will be held open to the public and the exhibition will be on view through March 2, 2024.

Andriy Naboka’s art career began by him experimenting with several mediums ranging from acrylics, oil and watercolor to develop his talent in creating representational art. From landscapes to flowers, each medium provided challenges as well as solutions. And then the war came and everything stopped.

Creating art had suddenly become a luxury. The priorty immediately shited from creating art to doing his part defending his beloved Ukraine. Being unable to serve in the military due to medical reasons, Andriy volunteered wherever he could. One of these service moments would change his life as an artist.

He had volunteered for a group that met to hand-tie camaflouge netting from strands of torn olive green and gray fabric. This netting would be used by the Ukrainian military to conceal their weaponry. On this particular day, one of the volunteers had mistakenly used colorful red, yellow, and orange shreds of donated fabric in a portion of the netting. What was seen as a fatal flaw in the netting awakened the mind of this artist who immediately saw the beauty of the colors and the texure in the torn fabric and Andriy knew that this medium would become the passion for his work.

The colors and textures of torn fabric would replace his paints, watercolors, and brushes. He would create stunning work by weaving the fabric into amazing works of art. He felt it was important for the spirit of the Ukrainian people to have a sense of normalcy whenever possible. With the help of friends, they assembled an exhbition of his textile artwork in the basement of the Opera House in Kiev. With the blackouts in place, this exhibiton was illuminated by candlight.

During this time Andriy met Santa Fe filmaker Luke Fitch of Altitude FX. Luke was on assignment in Ukraine and Andriy had voluteered to act as Luke’s interpreter. A strong bond between the two was soon formed and with Luke’s help, Andriy eventually found a way to visit Santa Fe along with his art.