Take a better look at these paintings. At first glance they appear to be abstracts, but in fact they are very, very real.

Wiadyslaw Hasior, Poland 1993

This artist has a deep understanding and respect for the traditions of the world of contemporary art and especially that of its founders Malevitch and Kandinsky.

Olha Petrova, art critic. Ukraine, 1993

...Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy... The west end is enlivened by the paintings by Ukrainian artists such as Yan Martsinkevich His dreamy work is colorful, energetically vibrant, owing as much to surrealism as symbolism.

"The Scotsman", Gordon Smith, art critic, Great Britain 1993

The colors in Yan Martsinkevich's exhibition are vibrant, wild and at the same time bound together by solid craftsmanship. Don't try to understand then -embrace the mystery. They are more then just references to Miro, Kandinsky or Malevitch. These inner worlds are crafted in the way of a well made Narago blanket -woven dreams.

Morag Thomson, Chessels Gallery. Scotland. 1993

Yan Martsinkevich is an Eastern European Post-Modernist. In a very special way you can find in his paintings a mixture of time and space, dream of reality. They appear like psychedelic hallucinations where pieces of the history of art come together with glimpses of a very personal participation in the present time.

John Peter Nilsson, art critic, Sweden, 1995

Martsinkevich mixes abstract and representational art in one and the same picture... He goes back to the folk tradition present in the Russian Orthodox church of icon painting and refers to predecessors like Malevitch and Kandinsky.

"Sydsvenska Dagbladet", Alexander Agrell, Sweden, 1995

Martsinkevich is one of today's up-to-date artists looking back and taking cultural heritage and showing it in the light of the present day His main sources are icons, Eastern European Modernism and the rich folk art from the East. He is proud of being able to show his roots and simultaneously presents his art as an escape from reality. The dynamic, exuberant painting is a reaction against the colorless, hopeless atmosphere in his country. There is a rich language of symbols in the art of Martsinkevich Much that can perhaps be overlooked by someone not sharing his background and traditions. It is inspired by the icon-art of folk origin and can be both religious and profane.

... But we circle predominantly in the postmodern sphere. His compositions are built of facets creating on the surface a rhythmic and expressive play that recalls Kandinsky's exuberant colors, plain geometrical and stereometrical language of shapes. We meet as well abstract, metaphorical figures leading us back to Brancusi's sculptures with oval-shaped, hybrid bodies. Martsinkevich, with delight, comes closer to symbolism and surrealism. "Arbetet",

Marianne Nanne-Brahammar, art critic, Sweden, 1995

This breadth of vision, this quality of vision for me is just a feast for the eyes. So, I won't say, more than just: "Bon Appetit".

Charles McQueen, Royal Academy, Scotland, 1993