Clauda is pleased to present new works by Olga Krykun in her exhibition Stardust for Tomorrow.

The work Stardust for Tomorrow, whose title became the motif of the exhibition, embodies both joy and sorrow. On the one hand, soldiers who liberate a city from a tyrant are welcomed and crowned with flowers; on the other hand, flowers are placed on their graves. Flowers are used as symbols in ceremonies of both celebration and mourning. They are a part of life and death. For 1960s hippie culture they were an emblem of peace, accompanied by the famous slogan “Flowers, not bombs.” Just as flowers are fleeting, so too is dust or sand, which Buddhist monks spend days and weeks shaping grain by grain into elaborate mandala patterns, only to then scatter them with a single breath or sweep of the hand once completed. Delicate flowers and invisible stardust both evoke the Japanese concept of mono no aware, which is not far removed from the European understanding of vanitas. It is a plaintive, melancholic emotion evoked by things that are beautiful yet fleeting, such as elusive childhood memories, flowers, Chinese souvenirs, or freedom.

Krykun uses a diverse array of media within her practice, including video, objects and painting, which she subsequently assembles to create complex installations. By combining elements of fictional narratives with references to cultural and socially relevant symbols, she invents a self-contradicting mythology of our day-and-age. Krykun’s work is heavily informed by her experiences growing up in her family’s souvenir shop during a swiftly globalizing 1990s Ukraine.
Her practice, which is strongly rooted in intuition and emotion, serves as a kind of poetry for the times we live in.

Exhibitions: Gemini Season (2025), Galerii NoD, Praha (2025), 427 Gallery, Riga (2023), Wanda Gallery, Varšava (2022), Skala Gallery, Poznaň (2022), Gallery Konstfack, Stockholm (2020) a City Surfer Office, Praha (2018). Její práce byly prezentovány na skupinových výstavách v Ulstrup Gallery, Dánsko (2025), MXM Galeria, Madrid (2025), DSC Gallery, Praha (2025), Muzeu moderního umění ve Varšavě (2023), Českém centru v Soulu (2022), Garage Gallery, Praha (2021) a v Yo-Chang Art Museum na Tchaj-wanu (2019).