Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko

Though best known as a writer, musician, and filmmaker, visual art was Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko’s first creative language. It was in drawing that he first honed his artistic voice—work that would later resurface as illustrations for his 2017 poetry collection Decadence, and again in Happy Lovers (2021), where his student-era drawings from the Academy of Printing accompany the text.

Over time, his visual practice evolved from black-and-white linework to bold experiments with color, all while remaining rooted in the haunting, surreal noir aesthetic that defines much of his creative output.

Oleksandr has held solo exhibitions in Ukraine and Georgia and participated in numerous group shows. Today, his artworks can be found in private collections around the world. If you’re interested in acquiring a piece, feel free to reach out directly.

96х71,5 cm. watercolor on paper

TENDERNESS (2022)

Held at the Sheptytsky Centre in Lviv, Tenderness invited viewers on a quiet journey toward rediscovering their own softness—a deep, inward warmth protected from the harshness of the outside world.

How do we perceive poetry in everyday life? Does it still exist around us, or even within us? Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko sees poetry as a key to self-discovery. By understanding ourselves, he believes, we can begin to comprehend the invisible structures that shape the world—and, in turn, live more consciously and fully. This exhibition aimed to spark that inner exploration.

The show presented two distinct phases of the artist’s visual work: his earliest creations and his most recent. Four watercolor pieces, painted on January 16 specifically for the exhibition, were displayed alongside an alkyd-on-plywood work created 16 years prior—creating a dialogue across time and experience.

"Reeds". 150x105 cm. alkyd enamel on plywood

NATURAL STRUCTURES (2006)

This project reflects Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko’s deep admiration for Jackson Pollock’s method of creation. For Oleksandr, there was something sacred in Pollock’s approach—an almost spiritual distance between artist and surface. It reminded him of Renaissance depictions of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, where their bodies don’t quite touch—suggesting levitation, reverence, mystery.

In the same way, Pollock poured paint without making direct contact with the canvas, letting gravity and the laws of physics shape the work. Natural Structures embraces that same process: surrendering control, trusting the materials, and allowing form to emerge organically—revealing hidden patterns within the chaos.

"Water". 170x89 cm. alkyd enamel on plywood

100x53 cm. alkyd enamel on plywood

CLAY HEADS (2016)

This project pays tribute to iconic figures in poetry through a series of sculptural portraits. Among them are visual interpretations of Ezra Pound and Ivan Franko—the renowned Galician poet and thinker of early 20th-century Western Ukraine.

Each piece was sculpted from a distinct clay type and mounted on wooden frames, combining raw materiality with reverence for literary legacy. Clay Heads is both homage and exploration—capturing the essence of poets whose words continue to shape cultural memory.

NAKED WOMEN (2017)

Created between 2006 and 2017 in both Ukraine and the United States, Naked Women is a striking series of mostly black-and-white photographs that explore the interplay of light, shadow, and form. Through these intimate portraits, Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko captures the raw vulnerability and quiet strength of the human body, embracing its timeless, unadorned beauty.

The monochrome palette, echoing the tradition of classic photography, strips each image down to its essentials—light, shape, and presence. Much like the great photographic masters, Oleksandr approaches his subjects with sensitivity and restraint, allowing the viewer to encounter the body not as spectacle, but as something universal, enduring, and deeply human.

Works from this series have been exhibited multiple times across Ukraine.