We chatted with the Ukrainian-born, Portland-based artist around his show Hiddi at One Grand Gallery in Portland, OR.
Q: How does scale factor into your work?
A: Scale shapes how the work is experienced. I like working on larger pieces—they carry the atmosphere better. Smaller works bring intimacy, and together they complete the rhythm.
Q: What materials do you find most inspiring right now?
A: Sand, sticky slurries, raw cotton, weathered wood, nails, pigments, and music—those are at the top of my list right now.
Q: What is the relationship between painting and sculpture in your work?
A: When I paint, I sculpt with my hands—on the floor, over raw fabric. People sometimes ask if my works are paintings, wall sculptures, or some prints. I call them paintings, but they can be anything the viewer wants them to be.
The sculptural objects in HIDDI are a bit different—they’re made from a mineral composite and hand-carved after being cast into block forms.
Q: How does memory fail us? How does it serve us?
A: Sometimes memory fails us by holding onto what we wish we could forget. We want to start fresh, without the past shaping every thought. Still—it helps us make better work, inspires us in unexpected ways. A wave of nostalgia can trigger the freedom of not caring too much—just enough to begin. I think memory becomes a kind of sublimation—it moves through us and into what we create.
Q: Does your Ukrainian heritage influence your work? If so, how?
A: Yes—but it’s not literal or symbolic. I don’t directly reference my Ukrainian roots in a visual way, but the tone and emotional charge in my work carry the atmosphere I grew up with. There’s a kind of inherited melancholy that reminds me of the faded entrance walls of my childhood building. As an immigrant, I process my past quietly—and it slides into the textures, titles, and spaces in my work.
Q: How does your background in music production inform the work in this exhibition?
A: For HIDDI, the composition—the song—came first. I wrote, arranged, and finished a pre-mixed version in two days before I started painting. It captured the atmosphere I was in at the time and helped me carry that feeling through the entire process of creating and editing the works for the show.
Viktor Kobylianski: HIDDI
One Grand Gallery, Portland, OR
May 16, 2025 to June 20, 2025