Painting Nectar, artist Oleksandr Yatsenko

• Artist: Oleksandr Yatsenko
• Title: "Nectar"
• Year: 2024
• Size: 100 × 210 cm
• Materials: oil on canvas
• Original hand-painted artwork

Nectar is a vertical canvas almost entirely filled by a cut fruit resembling a melon or papaya. Its juicy orange flesh is outlined by a thin green rind and takes the shape of a heart: the upper edge dips into a soft hollow, while the lower one narrows to a point. At the centre lies a deep crimson core stretched along the vertical axis, with a vein that looks like a stem with tiny leaves and a scattering of pale seeds around it. The fruit is surrounded by a wide light halo of dense, granular texture, and a deep blue background shows at the edges of the canvas. The composition is symmetrical and emphatically frontal: the eye travels from the edges to the centre, as if drawn into the fruit itself.

The work is painted in oil on canvas. The artist combines two approaches: the flesh is rendered with long radial strokes running from the core to the rind, while the pale shell around it and the blue background are built from countless small dots and short strokes reminiscent of mosaic. The seeds and fibres near the core are painted with care, almost graphically, which makes the centre the most detailed part of the picture. The dense paint layer creates a tangible texture that reads especially well up close.

The palette rests on a strong contrast of warm and cool: fiery orange, coral and crimson flesh glows against saturated ultramarine. The green edge of the rind clearly separates the fruit from the pale golden-silver halo flecked with pink and green. The light seems to come from within the fruit, and the title hints at the main mood of the work: ripeness, sweetness and vital energy.

Oleksandr Yatsenko is a contemporary Ukrainian painter, born in 1980 in Cherkasy, who lives and works in Kyiv. In 2007 he graduated from the painting faculty of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. At the heart of his work is the exploration of the connections between people, nature and the Universe, and natural forms in his paintings turn into complex decorative structures.

At 100 × 210 cm, Nectar is a painting for large spaces: a spacious living room, a hallway, a loft or an apartment with high ceilings, where the vertical canvas will become the main accent of the wall. The warm orange-red palette will support furniture and textiles in terracotta, orange and sand tones, while the blue background links the work to the cooler shades of the interior. The painting can be a vivid gift for a lover of contemporary painting or for someone who enjoys bold colour choices.