Haiduk Nadiia - Ukrainian artist

Nadiia Hayduk (1948 - 2016) - a Ukrainian artist and designer. She is renowned for her work in abstract and non-objective painting, as well as in applied arts. She was married to the writer and satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky, with whom she had a daughter.

She was born on September 5, 1948, in the village of Velyka Vyska, Kirovohrad region (Ukraine), into a serviceman's family.

In 1970, she graduated with honors from the Odesa Theater and Art School.

Hayduk's art resonates with those who appreciate abstract and non-objective painting and seek beauty not in the visible, but in the perceived and deeply felt.

She was a part of the Odesa Nonconformist Art Movement, which was founded by Oleh Sokolov. She exhibited her works alongside Volodymyr Strelnikov, Volodymyr Naumets, Valentyn Khrushch, Volodymyr Sazonov, and other members of this circle.

Concurrently, she participated in the first games of the Odesa KVN (Club of the Funny and Resourceful) team, where she met Mikhail Zhvanetsky and became his companion and muse (1970–1980). She gave birth to their daughter in 1978.

The artist's works are held in various private collections in Ukraine and abroad.

Nadiia Hayduk's oeuvre is diverse. Starting with unpretentious, lyrical, and nostalgic painting cycles, the artist transitioned to sophisticated experiments in lyrical and geometric abstraction. The archaeological theme was succeeded by the theme of an ideal dream city. Collages, assemblages, and the book as an art object — all are placed within the field of the author's keen and loving attention, allowing her to thoroughly review past work and find a new angle and material for her favorite themes and images. She skillfully employs the interplay of textures: on bright, colorful fields, crowds of multi-colored sticks form bizarre compositions; rare photographs from her personal archive, unique hand-embroideries, badges, flags, old postcards, and the like come together in free improvisations, seemingly allowing the artist a rest from the impeccable discipline of geometric constructions. Hayduk's works stand out due to the sharpness and unexpected use of techniques and materials, the freshness and optimistic balance of her perspective, and a sufficient degree of humor, and sometimes irony.