Still life "Beet" 1959

Curator: What an unusual still life. It's Kateryna Bilokur’s 1959 oil painting, "Still Life "Beet"." The beet is enormous and rendered with incredible detail, almost as a portrait. Editor: Yes, a beet as a royal figure. I’m struck by how this painting elevates a humble root vegetable. Look at the textures, the raw materiality! I can almost feel the rough skin of that beet against my fingertips. The background fabric suggests the everyday made sacred by the painting. Curator: Absolutely, Bilokur wasn’t formally trained and used humble materials, making her work unique. She portrays not just the vegetable itself, but a whole narrative about the connection between nature and culture. It could symbolize resilience. It takes the shape of the heart and its color has links to fertility, love, or courage. Editor: Her background speaks volumes. A self-taught peasant woman limited by societal roles and resources, transforms everyday materials into transcendent objects of art. Consider the labour! This isn't some fleeting impression; it's a testament to observation, patience, and relentless creation. What stories that canvas could tell! Curator: Indeed. And think about the symbolism embedded in the seemingly simple choice of a beet, instead of an apple or orange commonly found in paintings. Beets, for example, were common foods, essential in the lives of those in Eastern Europe. Perhaps Bilokur aimed to present life's beauty through such symbols, things that often are dismissed. Editor: Exactly. So we're drawn back to labor. This wasn't about bourgeois luxury; it was about representing something essential. The work transforms common elements to become almost otherworldly and sacred, elevated, showing the capacity for dignity and importance in the commonplace. Curator: Looking at "Still Life "Beet," I'm moved by how the symbolism captures and speaks to the heart of our humanity. Editor: And I’m impressed by Bilokur’s approach in this very material, very human image. Her art reveals that grand meaning can be found even in the humblest subject, on humble canvas.