Eva, open the door!

Tania Stupnikova
Eva, open the door!
Acrylic on canvas
55×55 cm
2023
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 250 EUR

When I see a new picture in my mind’s eye, most of the time I’m pushing off something in real life. Sometimes it’s the little details that spark my imagination.
We were returning from tutoring and my daughter saw a plant behind the translucent doors of the house. Look, she says, how it looks like some alien monster!
I looked – and really!
I think: I must draw it, this monster!
I reasoned for a long time, twisted it this way and that way, but in the end the monster did not turn out. It turned out Eve and a slightly different story. Like the real Eve, she appeared almost out of nowhere and began to live her own life. She even made a decision for all of humanity.
I will put a photo of the same plant at the end of the carousel, so you can take a look. )))))

Waiting for Gerda

Tania Stupnikova
Waiting for Gerda
Acrylic on canvas
65×85 cm
2023
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 550 EUR

Ray Bradbury has an incredible story Referent, where the alien constantly changes form, and maybe even essence, under the influence of the characteristics that the hero gives him. Since childhood, I felt so sorry for that alien, because he has no form and name, he just is, he does not want to be something that others see him as.
I feel my paintings as that alien. Yes, I put a part of myself in them, but I want them to live their own lives. So I will not explain how to understand the picture.
But the creation story is something else, I can share that. I came up with this picture when I was listening to a song about the fact that fairy tales are not what they seem. So I thought the Snow Queen’s castle might be a little different too. And there may be many beings who could not gather the word “Eternity”. Now only Gerda can help them…

Impersonator

Tania Stupnikova
Impersonator
Acrylic on canvas
55×55 cm
2023
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 490 EUR

In this painting, I blur the lines between the ordinary and the extraordinary, and invite the viewer to consider the possibility of life beyond our world. An otherwise mundane office is transformed by the presence of an otherworldly city visible through the windows. The stark contrast between the familiar and the fantastical underscores the idea that there may be more to our world than meets the eye.
In the center of the picture is a laptop from which a tentacle crawls out, a surreal and unsettling detail that adds to the overall feeling of the unknown. A manuscript lies on the desk beside the computer, bearing the words “how to impersonate a human.” The presence of a needle and thread nearby suggest that the creature depicted in the painting may be in the process of transforming itself to better blend in with humanity.
With this painting, I invite the viewer to consider the possibility of life beyond our world and the motivations that may drive such beings to interact with humanity.

Reality Stitchers

Tania Stupnikova
Reality Stitchers
Acrylic on canvas
65×85 cm
2023
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 570 EUR

In this work, I present a world on the verge of chaos. The dense forest is covered with a carpet of fallen leaves, as if nature itself is in disarray. But amid the decline, hope appears in the form of mysterious aliens who will be able to put order in what is happening. They flew to us to restore balance and order.
If I think about it, it is very sad that I can no longer see a solution without outside intervention. But my subconscious reminds me that even in the darkest of times, help can come from unexpected sources. When logic is powerless, mysterious creatures may appear whose purpose is to stitch together a torn reality. Pay attention to their tails. )))

Cactus Anton and fishing

Tania Stupnikova
Cactus Anton and fishing
Mixed media (acrylic, watercolor pencils) on canvas
65×85 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 490 EUR

They say that portrait artists always paint themselves – no matter who they paint. The artist’s features can always be found in the faces he paints.
I think you can also find me in each of my works.
Now I live in a beautiful country where people are very kind and pleasant. The ecology here is wonderful, we settled in perfectly. We can say that we live better than before the war – in fact, like in a resort.
But I still feel like a stranger – wrong, clumsy, illogical…. I don’t always understand my own feelings and I don’t really know what to do with it.
I think this is how the hero of my last painting feels. It is in a beautiful, magical place. But that is not his world, and he is superfluous in it. He is redundant for now, because he is learning. And everything will definitely work out for him.
And the cactus, I think, symbolizes a piece of home, our own world, that we carry with us. And it actually exists, it’s my daughter’s cactus. And she actually calls him Anton. ))))

Way station

Tania Stupnikova
Way station
Acrylic on canvas
100×70 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 790 EUR

At first it was just an imagine. Some kind of theater of the absurd, which I almost dreamed – like a hotel corridor, and there are two big smart caterpillars with a bunch of things, suitcases, a box, a cage and some other animal on a leash. But they are not in a hotel, but as if it were a teleport and they are moving to Earth.
Which is quite logical, because such nonsense is happening here, I would come myself to be a smart caterpillar. )))) That’s covid, then the war, then it’s not known at all. Apparently, the aliens were interested. They say that UFOs have been seen in Kyiv several times. They write both in the news and in chat rooms.
And then the picture took on a life of its own. It is lighter than it was in my imagination, the second caterpillar did not get in, and I hid the first one behind my helmet, because people, they are so prejudiced against other creatures.
As for the cage, it turns out I hate cages. None. So it can be assumed that I see myself in that bear. I don’t want to be in a cage, and I’d be happy to leave Earth, too, but where the hell is that teleporter? )))))

Emerald children

Tania Stupnikova
Emerald children
Acrylic on canvas
45×60 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 290 EUR

They were simply born and wanted to be. Like at a wedding – something new, something old, something blue.
I live on.
Today, my entire feed consists of these words: I live on. I allow myself to live. I allow myself to be happy. I allow myself to create something new. And this new will not be ruins, it will be something strange and sophisticated.
I no longer want torn strokes, wounds on the body of reality – I do not want to see it and I do not want to paint it. I want to paint the beauty and limitlessness of my worlds. Let them be born, not die.

Precursors

Tania Stupnikova
Precursors
Acrylic on canvas
50×60 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Sold

This picture came out in pairs for the previous one. This is my reality, which I am trying to draw to the real reality. Because the real one is broken, so I’m looking for another one.
And as if found. I no longer want to paint destruction, I don’t want to paint death and broken reality. I want to return to my true story. Draw strange creatures that freeze when we look at them. Their birth and metamorphosis, their relationship and evolution.
Of course, the war will still leave an imprint on my paintings and my soul. But I hope that with each step that brings us closer to victory, this imprint will become smaller.

How fast do you arrive?

Tania Stupnikova
How fast do you arrive?
Acrylic on canvas
50×60 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 160 EUR

The feeling of home for us is now lost forever, lost on February 24. Even those of us who can return home will never feel safe. Will never be able to be sure of tomorrow as long as there is evil nearby…
So this is not the world that exists today, the surreal world of our thoughts, memories and dreams. I draw this world to reality, I try to feel it, see it and come back.

Not on my watch

Tania Stupnikova
Not on my watch
Acrylic on canvas
45×65 cm
2022
Košice, Slovakia
Price: 200 EUR

The demon of death will not take over the world as long as Ukraine stands guard over peace and life.
It so happened that at the very beginning of Russia’s insidious attack on Ukraine. In Japan, a stone was broken in which the spirit of death Tamamo-no-Mae was imprisoned. This is an evil demon with nine tails, the release of which can lead to the destruction of the universe. If we assume that this is true, it was the war that woke up the demon – because the stone split immediately after the beginning of the attack on Ukraine.
But I am sure that the spirit of Ukrainians is so strong that we can deal with any demon. I am convinced that the support of the civilized world will help us not to imprison that demon, but to kill him once and for all. That this horror never happened again.