Maria Kozyrenko s a Ukrainian artist, writer and poet. Her artistic work is marked by a neo-naïve style. The artist’s primary medium is oil pastel on canvas, a technique that involves painting with thick colour pencils made from a mixture of pigment, oil and wax.
She was born in a working-class suburb of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and an important cultural, artistic, scientific and industrial centre. Her works have been presented at numerous solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. Her creative motto is: “the art that understands you”.
In 2023, Maria Kozyrenko participated in the 56th International Meeting of Naïve Artists in Trebnje, where she created a triptych titled Cultivating Hope. At the end of the meeting, she received the Grand Prize
from the jury of experts, who unanimously deemed her work the most original.
The exhibition will be on open until September 20, 2026. You are kindly invited!
COLOPHON: MARIA KOZYRENKO: KJERKOLI SI / WHEREVER YOU ARE. Gallery of Naïve Artists Trebnje, 8 May–20 September 2026 / PUBLISHER: The Trebnje Centre for Education and Culture – Gallery of Naïve Artists Trebnje / REPRESENTED BY: Sabina Tori Selan / EXHIBITION CURATOR and AUTHOR OF THE TEXTS: Damjana Šalehar / EXHIBITION COORDINATION and PREPARATION OF PROGRAMMES FOR CHILDREN: Ana Modic / TRANSLATION and PROOFREADING: Kristina Gregorčič / TRANSLATION OF THE POEM FROM UKRAINIAN INTO SLOVENIAN: Vitalij Osmačko in Damjana Šalehar / PHOTOGRAPHS: Boštjan Pucelj, artist’s archive / DESIGN: Meta Gabrijel / PRINTING: Tisk Šepic d.o.o. (catalogue), Gvido d. o. o.
