"In my paintings there is no blood, there’s just some red paint on a piece of paper. How could this cause fear?"

Vlada Ralko

Vlada Ralko is one of the most famous expressionists in independent Ukraine. In her works, the artist often raises the questions of identity, relevant social and political contexts immersed in the existential depths of pain and suffering of a collective body. Her brushwork is emotional, tough and contrasting; her palette is saturated.

"Vlada Ralko’s works honestly, without flirting with spectators or institutions, transform the Other, whom we, sitting on the ruins of the empire and only starting to realize our lack of self-identifications, are not yet able to digest", - says about Vlada Ralko’s painting art critic Asya Bazdyryeva, calling her one of the the most powerful artists in modern Ukrainian history.

Vlada Ralko was born in  1969 in Kyiv. In 1987 she graduated from the Republican Art School named after T. Shevchenko, in 1994 - the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (prof. V. Shatalin’s studio). Since 1994, she has been a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. The artist lives and works in Kyiv.

Vlada Ralko’s works are in museums and private collections of  Boris Grynyov, Ihor Voronov, Andriy Suprunenko, Yuri Stashkiv, Evhen Karas.