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By Staff | Photographs by Hong Sar
Horrors in Ukraine prove somber muse for Nashville artist
An artist hailing from the Music City was inspired by the ongoing horrors of Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as his ancestry, to capture his feelings about the war on canvases that have garnered international attention in a Washington, D.C., venue opposite the Russian embassy
~By Staff
Landscape of War (2022): The tree symbolizes the hope and renewal of rebuilding and restoring Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky: Character Under Fire (2022) Brezinka says he hopes this image of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “creates an artistic dialogue with the viewer that begs for resolution.”
Slava Ukraini, (2022): Here, a red bear is used to represent Russian politics and geography, while a dove is an iconic symbol of peace.
Writes Brezinka: “We look on with horror, but also with hope: that the courageous persistence of the Ukrainian people will prevail; that their resistance is unwavering; and that the young democracy of Ukraine will triumph.”
Writes Brezinka: “We look on with horror, but also with hope: that the courageous persistence of the Ukrainian people will prevail; that their resistance is unwavering; and that the young democracy of Ukraine will triumph.”
Even While We Sleep (2022): This mixed media collage of Russian President Vladimir Putin includes newspaper pages, cloth, acrylic, cardboard, rope and foam core on wood panel.
Nashville artist Wayne Brezinka was inspired by Russia’s war in Ukraine to capture on canvas how the conflict impacts him as someone whose family emigrated to America in search of a life free from oppression.
Brezinka’s great-grandparents hailed from a Polish town, from which the family name is derived. They arrived in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century.
However “Brzezinka” has a dark legacy: The town was later the site that the Nazis chose for the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
So, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine, his thoughts turned to atrocities past.
“I couldn’t stop watching and was dumbfounded at what was happening,” he said. “And then, I thought about my family being from Poland.”
Amid that alarm and dread, he started channeling those emotions into his work.
Soon, he received an offer to display his works in the street-facing windows of the Glover Park Hotel in Washington D.C., just opposite the Russian embassy.
Brezinka’s “Facing War” show at the hotel prompted concerns whether his art might land him in Moscow’s radar.
“I was a little nervous,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be a stick in the eye but to express empathy for the Ukrainian people.”
To learn more, go to waynebrezinka.com.
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