Text: Sasha Souther, PhD
13/01/2024

Hanna Liubinskaya is a visual artist from Belarus. Her main interests are figurative and monochromatic painting, both demonstrating that Liubinskaya is an outstanding representative in the field. Her works visually quote Lucio Fontana's "White Manifesto," in which the renowned artist of the past wrote: "Existence, nature, and matter come together in perfect unity. They develop in time and space."

The monochromatic works Liubinskaya produced are her way of complementing her spiritual art mentors like Yves Klein, Mark Rothko, and Lucio Fontana. Because of these artists, it became possible for the next creative generations not to be afraid to avoid shapes and work only with colors. Unlike the masters of the past, Liubinskaya prefers to apply thick, paste-looking layers of paint in her series. This way, she achieves one of her main goals – demonstrating her love for this material. Furthermore, Hanna's predecessors preferred to tone the canvases without visible brushstrokes. But she prefers a different approach, making her creative work visible among many other emerging artists.

Highlighting the figurative aspect of Liubinskaya's creative work is as interesting as the monochromatic one. This is because, here, the artist sometimes literally sculpts some forms from paint on her canvases. The shapes are usually simple – a heart, a body silhouette, or something else.

Combining coloring and sculpting in painting makes her an outstanding artist; this way, she once more quotes Lucio Fontana's statement, where he declares: "We demand an art which is free of all aesthetic artifice." Her paintings have both – an elegant approach to a classical medium and a search for a new way to express oneself. However, some of her ideas have more perspective in terms of professional growth.

Let's look at some of the paintings in the "Lost in Texture" series, where Liubinskaya uses different colors to create shapes. It is an excellent example of an artist trying to make their series less dull and monotone. A few examples will enrich the visual effect of the whole body of work when Liubinskaya decides to have a retrospective solo show. But if there are too many of them, it may not look as good as slight incrustation in the series where the main body of work demonstrates how one artist playfully navigates her talent in choosing one color per canvas.

Even though we see that at that early stage of developing her artistic practice, Hanna Liubinskaya has already achieved a lot: she participated in exhibitions in Belarus, Russia, and the UK and had several solo shows. That proves that in several years, Liubinskaya may become an artist who will influence young professionals to practice art and establish their own approach in this area.