Ivan Dudych. Art critic.
Natalia Bartkiv is not a debutant, she is well-known in Lviv and abroad and has got her own audience. Her genuine and sincere art astonishes the viewers with her unique manner and bright colours. Her paintings create special atmosphere and her artistic handwriting is easily recognizable. It reflects her worldview and philosophy of life.
Natalia Bartkiv’s paintings are rather moments that were magically noticed with the fine artist’s eye amongst the trivia of everyday routine, ordinary things and still lives that liven up and form the world of their own. The houses and terraces become the main heroes of her paintings, and the interiors tell the stories, even poetries. Nevertheless her naïve is not perceived like primitivism, but more like harmonious balance of the flight of a thought and paintbrush strokes.
Ancient buildings and luxurious palazzos, cosy villas and silent patios, parks and gardens – they all form the feeling of the home. And each one of them leaves the notch on your heart no matter the geographical location. We can always find it even blindfolded, like the birds find their nests, and the rivers find their ways into the ocean named the home.
I f we try to look for the sources of inspiration in Natalia Bartkiv’s creativity, we will feel the polyphony of Bach’s well-tempered clavier and the sincerity of folk songs. Fauvism accompanies postmodernism in her paintings. But above all the desire to dive into her paintings is invincible. You want to enter her paintings and spend there at least some time to linger, relax and enjoy the real feeling of being at home.
Irina Timohova. Art critic Of Odessa Museum of Western and Eadtern Art
Natalia Bartkiv “My Joy fills in my home”
There is something biblical in the creative biography of a Lviv artist Natalia Bartkiv: First there was a word, and Natalia became a teacher of English language and literature. Then the usic came into her life – her second education is musical. But when she took pants and paintbrushes in her hands, her world began to sound and to vibrate with colours.
She is a very bright, multifaceted and talented person. What are her paintings? They show the world of her soul- clear and open. Natalia likes to paint her cosy home, whrer the fire place is lit, the grandpiano is open, there are lots of books on the bookshelves and on the table surrounded by comfortable and beautiful furniture she placed flowers, fruit and sweets waiting for us, involving us into the sphere of ideal images and dreams. Her art is the art of a hint, the art of telling a story with the images. Such interior becomes a magial place where reality turns into a masterpiece reinforced by the ultimate intensity of colour palette, musical line rythms,that create the effect of inner movement of forms, and finally complete obediens of all components of the painting that gives the impression of an arabesque. Natalia managed to preserve the freshness of a childhood never loosing the naiveness.
Standing in front of the door of her house we find ourself on the threshold of something amazing and bewildering. The threshold is a portal that leads beyond. A pause in front of the Door, a key instance before everything changes. In front of this door all inner wishes and desires come true while we are looking for the key, for the password like the magical “sim sim open the door”.
In the world of Natalia’s images Western exterior of the house easily changes into Eastern interior. Near the doors there is always a blooming garden. Like in the poem of Aleksander Block: “ the life’curses can not be heard in this garden behind the wall”. The garden is always associated with the paradise. Being in the garden is one of the most pure pleasures and bright joys. The artist happily connects real and ideal, desired and embodied.
Natalia Bartkiv’s painting is traditional and original at the same time. She creates the world of images where she preserves eternal values of being. She possesses the folklore kind of thinking, – the festive side of life,- the art of “seven Sundays a week” that confronts the drama of the world. Natalia creates consoling art. Her compositions are like beautiful melodies, they always save inner harmony. The colours and hues that she usesare balancing each other in order to achieve that perfect harmony. The sculptural softness of forms and fresh and juicy coloures serve the same purpose. Overall major sound of her paintings is unfolded by floral ornaments that cites the biblical wine and is transformed into the Trypilla motifes. The calligraphy of her free painbrush writing reminds Ukrainian embroidery as well as the traditional stone age painting. The colour Green is her Love, it is the colour of Hope, Spring and renaissance. The world around her is vivid, alive and promising a miracle.
Natalia Bartkiv’s paintings are strong with their state and mystery. They are precise and mysterious at the same time. They have a subject but it is impossible to be conveyed with words. Like it is impossible to convey with words the real music, poetry and painting. But after knowing and touching them your soul enlightens and the life becomes brighter.
