Tsyganka and Cyprus

Artist takes a dive into living life on a Mediterranean island

Tsyganka’s artwork caught our attention and that is why we reached out to find more about her. Her name is Ekaterina Kharisova. She is Russian, and has been living and painting in Cyprus for the last seven years. Tsyganka is her art world identity. As we speak, her connection to the island becomes obvious and as she introduces herself we understand that Cyprus has been the place of awakening for Tsyganka.

Her story begins in Moscow, where she was born in 1979. Tsyganka decided to pursue a financial career, despite having studied art in her birthplace. She put her dream of becoming an artist on hold for twenty years. After two decades of experience in finance, her first solo exhibition was launched in Moscow in 2010 and then in 2017… Cyprus happened!

Three years later, the dawn of 2020 turned out to be the dawn of a crisis; the coronavirus pandemic. It was a truly difficult time for wild and free spirits, such as Tsyganka, who struggled to step out from old routine. It was not easy to leave her comfort zone, the stable and safe ‘monthly salary’ life, behind and leap into the new and unexplored waters of living life solely as an artist. But the time had come and the thought was ripe inside her head; she understood that she could no longer keep on making a living out of the finance career. It was time. She decided to invest all of her valuable time to what she loved the most – painting and creating. That decision was one of the most complicated and, yet, powerful ones she ever made in her life.

Nevertheless, Tsyganka did make the best decision possible: to fully dedicate herself to the love of her life – art. ‘If not now, when? If not me, then who? I just have to do it’, she thought. Awakening… And just like that, in six months’ time she created artworks inspired by the colourful, bright and free nature of Cyprus. The deep blue sea, the imperial mountains and waterfalls of the island, its stones, its flowers and the dry landscapes after a tiring summer, then the first winter snow… They all have been a major inspiration for the reborn artist. ‘Kaledonia’ waterfalls, ‘Troodos’ mountain, ancient ‘Kourion’ are among the first artworks born out of that turbulent period: Tsyganka’s deep focus and awakening, which allowed her to bring to life all the ideas that were sleeping inside her all these past years.

She has developed her own style of presenting Cypriot nature in artwork. Her work is filled with eye-catching themes, strong and vibrant compositions and unique, colourful resolution. Some of the most representing paintings are ‘Dancing Water’; inspired by the Kaledonia waterfall, this is a particularly interesting work, inside which one can see their own figures, provoking their imagination and attracting their focus by the movement its causes; ‘Almonds’, bright and powerful in full bloom; snowy ‘Troodos’ in the ‘Harmony’ and ‘The Key’ artwork series; ‘Sunset in Protaras’, where the hot stones, burnt by the shining island sun, transfuse their heat as it moves upwards to merge with the live trees and eventually the sky’s clouds. This particular painting is reminiscent of Cypriot artist Telemachos Kanthos’ ‘Angular Structure with Black Tree Trunk’.

It is fascinating to see, to observe and to dive into the vision of Cyprus through the eyes of an artist who is not only impressed by the little island in the Mediterranean, but also has the technical capacity to reflect the real beauty and charming soul of this place on a canvas.

Tsyganka feels as if her paintings are creating a melody; a melody that she hopes can be heard and read and interpreted by all, in their own unique ways. ‘Could this happen somewhere else? I do not know. But I am so thankful to this miracle island – Cyprus – for its natural beauty, for the warmth of its people, for its free, authentic spirit, which causes you to wake up each morning and treasure all the little things in your life. I am so grateful for my awakening’, she constantly contemplates.

You can find her works at: https://art.kunstmatrix.com/en/artist/tsyganka, http://instagram.com/tsyganka.art