Ukraine’s artists create amid blackouts and freezing studios during war
Kyiv – In a small studio in Kyiv, where winter air creeps in through cracked windows and water freezes in the pipes, Ukrainian artists continue to paint despite relentless bombing and daily power cuts.
As Russian strikes target energy and heating systems, creativity survives in near darkness, cold rooms, and moments snatched between air raid alerts.
For many artists, winter has turned their studios into places of endurance rather than comfort. Paint hardens in tubes, brushes stiffen, and every completed stroke feels like a quiet act of resistance.
Yuriy Denysenkov, a surrealist painter, works wrapped in layers of clothing, carefully warming his hands so he can squeeze colour onto a palette. When electricity fails, he relies on speed, painting quickly to generate warmth and keep the paint from freezing completely.
His canvases reflect a muted, introspective mood shaped by war and isolation. Children, animals, and quiet rural scenes emerge in dark blues and greys, mirroring both memory and uncertainty.
Across the city, other artists face similar conditions. Studios that once buzzed with conversation and light are now silent, lit only by candles or small gas stoves.
Oleksandr Liapin, a veteran artist in his seventies, paints in a room barely above freezing. Steam escapes his breath as he adds bright colours to playful, dreamlike figures that contrast sharply with the harsh reality outside.
For him, painting is not just personal expression but contribution. While younger members of his collective serve on the front lines, his role is to keep culture alive.
The war has reshaped Ukraine’s creative community in profound ways. Exhibitions are postponed, galleries damaged, and artists displaced or drafted into military service.
Yet art has not stopped. Instead, it has adapted, becoming quieter, more intimate, and deeply tied to survival.
Blackouts have forced artists to rethink how and when they work. Many paint during brief windows of electricity or daylight, timing their creative bursts around unpredictable outages.
Cold has become another adversary. Maintaining even minimal warmth requires improvisation, from camping stoves to shared generators.
Despite these hardships, artists say their work matters now more than ever. Art documents emotion when words fail, offering testimony that goes beyond news and statistics.
Paintings created in these conditions often carry layered meanings. They speak of fear, resilience, loss, and the stubborn insistence on beauty amid destruction.
The presence of war is constant, even inside studios. Distant explosions, sirens, and the knowledge that friends or colleagues are fighting at the front shape every brushstroke.
Some artists say the act of painting helps maintain mental balance. Focusing on colour and form offers a temporary refuge from anxiety and exhaustion.
International support has played a role in sustaining Ukraine’s cultural scene. Donations, exhibitions abroad, and messages of solidarity remind artists that they are seen and not forgotten.
This external attention also reinforces a sense of responsibility. Artists feel they are representing a nation under attack, showing the world that Ukrainian life and culture endure.
Art collectives have become informal support networks. They share resources, warmth, and encouragement, filling gaps left by damaged infrastructure.
Even simple acts, like boiling water or lighting a candle, take on symbolic weight. They underline how fragile daily life has become, and how precious each ordinary moment is.
The images produced in freezing studios may one day be displayed in warm galleries. For now, they exist as records of resilience created under extreme conditions.
Artists know their work may not stop bombs or restore power. But they believe it preserves something essential, identity, memory, and hope.
As winter deepens and the war drags on, Ukrainian artists continue to paint. Each canvas stands as quiet proof that creativity survives even in the coldest darkness.
