In a small Kyiv studio where icicles cling to the tap in the bathroom sink, surrealist painter Yuriy Denysenkov is careful to preserve warmth long enough to coax paint from its tube. He describes how Russia's sustained bombardment of Ukraine's heating and power system has contributed to what many residents consider the coldest and darkest winter since the conflict began four years ago.
"The paint freezes and it’s hard to squeeze it out," he says, managing to force a streak of dark blue onto a palette. He moves quickly, noting that working briskly helps him feel a little warmer as he lays down rapid brush strokes on a moody scene of a child testing a puddle with a dog nearby.
Elsewhere, steam forms from the breath of 70-year-old Oleksandr Liapin as he applies paint to a whimsical canvas. His image depicts an astonished white rabbit in a room where a candle hangs on the ceiling, rendered in bright yellow, pink and orange in a naive style. Outside the studio the temperature reads minus 10 Celsius (14 F), but a gas camping stove brought indoors has nudged the interior temperature above freezing, after boiling a kettle.
Both artists' descriptions emphasize how basic materials and simple warmth have become central to continuing their practice. Icicles on plumbing, paint that solidifies in tubes and the need to generate heat with portable stoves are recurring details in their accounts.
The art collective that includes these painters also feels the weight of the wider conflict. At least three members are currently serving in the military and one is missing in action. Liapin frames his work as a form of resistance and a means of communication: "The world sees that we’re living on and fighting. That’s why they’re helping us," he says, adding that his primary instrument in this struggle is his paintbrush.
Their stories underline how interruptions to heating and power affect daily life and creative practice, forcing artists to adapt to low temperatures and limited utilities while members of their community serve at the front.