Caldwell Gallery Hudson is pleased to present an exhibition of Nikolina Kovalenko’s paintings of coral reefs from her Utopian Reefscapes series.

Kovalenko (b.1987) works with fragile ecosystems creating artwork inspired by locations specific to each project. Utopian Reefscapes address the effects of climate change on the health of the ocean’s coral population. Scientists estimate 50% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed, and expect another 40% to disappear over the next twenty years due to warming oceans, pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction.

In 2019 the artist received her PADI license and began exploring coral reefs in person. She taught herself underwater photography to capture coral reefs as they are today. These images are the jumping off point for her work, which imagines what could be under the ocean surface, if we all committed to taking better care of the Earth.

In her efforts to bring awareness to this environmental calamity, Kovalenko’s imagined Utopian Reefscapes depict an ocean of abundance, where corals of all shapes and colors thrive. These underwater Gardens of Eden take viewers to a world where one can’t tell reality from fiction. “I’m hopeful these paintings will inspire viewers to feel joy, awe, curiosity – and a shared sense of stewardship toward our beautiful, fragile planet,” says Kovalenko.

For this special exhibition the artist will be in residency at Caldwell Gallery Hudson, painting a work live in the gallery’s sidewalk window. The work will be raffled with 100% of the proceeds donated to the Coral Reef Alliance. In addition, 20% of all painting and NFT sales will be donated to the Coral Reef Alliance.

NFTs

Inspired by the hope filled message of her paintings, Kovalenko has extended her creativity and messaging into a project where each oil painting will have a limited edition reflective NFT experience. These NFT videos, paired with either a “breath” or “heartbeat” soundtrack, envelop the earth and rotate infinitely through time and the cosmos. The exhibit’s NFTs were minted on the environmentally friendly Polygon blockchain, and may be purchased at our OpenSea storefront. In addition, CGH Blockchain will exhibit the paintings and their reflection NFTs side-by-side in our brand new Metaverse (Decentraland) gallery and project space, in addition to our OnCyber space.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Nikolina Kovalenko received her MFA from Moscow Surikov Art Institute (Moscow, Russia) in 2011 and studied at Universität der Künste Berlin in 2010. She holds a Gold Medal from the Russian Art Academy. The artist currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

EXHIBITION

October 9 – November 21, 2021
This exhibition begins at 4pm on October 9th
Artist's Residency will run from October 10 – 18, closed Wednesday, October 13th
From October 21 – November 21 the gallery will be open during our regular business hours Thursday – Saturday 11-5 and Sunday 12-4

GALLERY

Caldwell Gallery Hudson is excited to represent Nikolina Kovalenko – our first ever contemporary artist – and to help bring awareness regarding coral’s pre-eminent role in our fragile oceanic ecosystems. This exhibition coincides with the launch of our new venture CGH Blockchain.

COVID-19 Response

Out of an abundance of care for all, Caldwell Gallery Hudson will require all visitors and staff to wear masks while inside our building.

CONTACT

Caldwell Gallery Hudson

355 Warren Street

Hudson, NY 12534

(518) 828-7087

jay@caldwellgallery.com

ABOUT

For more than 48 years, the Caldwell family has bought and sold fine American art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 2014 we opened our gallery in historic Hudson, New York.