AUDREY USHENKO : IDIOSYNCRATIC ARTIST IN THE MISTS

DBFA for almost forty years has had an affinity for Audrey the person and Audrey Ushenko the very skilled and wonderful painter. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work. Audrey is a National Academician and most loved Professor of Art and Art History at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, IN. She has had a number of solo exhibitions with Denise Bibro Fine Art, NYC, since the eighties as well as other numerous exhibitions throughout the United States. 

Audrey Ushenko works in the genre of narrative realism. Her father was also a professor. In addition to her wealth of learning both in art history and the classical techniques of painting, her Eastern European ancestry always informs her work. This is evident in the richness of her subject matter or the setting. It could be found in layering of light and color of a crystal vase, the texture and color of trees and rooftops, or the flow and tactility of fabrics. Even animals in her paintings are rich in pigmentation and nuance, be it the fluff or bristle of feathers. You can delight in her depiction of glass, the deft painting of light that plays on its surface. There is movement, warmth and depth to the scenes Ushenko depicts. 

Ushenko’s use of tones, textures, and light emotes psychological overtones of circumstance, reverence, ritual. In her later work she has further explored this journey of visual language. This visual language was refined by her and applied to everyday environments the artist encounters, such as the lobby of a hospital, a library, or even DBFA’s past Chelsea gallery location. Her works are personal, expressive and current. They are optically complex compositions rich in drama and content, that possess a sense of place and life. Vibrating surfaces are often quirky but always have substance. Her pulsating language has a unique balance with both the subjective and objective sources of imagery. Ushenko’s paintings have multifaceted personalities just as their creator. 

Audrey Ushenko has had several solo shows at Denise Bibro Fine Art, NYC, and exhibited her work extensively throughout the United States in such institutions as the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN; The National Academy of Design, NYC; University Museum, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO among others. She has had notices in numerous publications such as Art In America, The New York Times to name just a few. Ushenko is a professor at Purdue University Fort Wayne, IN. Audrey Ushenko earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, after studying at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, and the Art Institute of Chicago, IL.