Alona Tokovenko is a contemporary Ukrainian artist who explores the themes of fetish, trauma, and memory, examining them both in societal and deeply personal dimensions. 

Summary of Alona Tokovenko

As a multifaceted artist, Alona constantly seeks new tools and methods to bring her ideas to life. She constructs and deconstructs artistic space, experiments, and transcends the boundaries of traditional forms and techniques. Analysis and psychoanalysis have become her primary conceptual approaches in her work.

Biography of Alona Tokovenko

Born and raised in Odesa, the artist received her art education at the Grekov Art School, graduating in 2011. That same year, at the age of 21, she presented her first solo exhibition. Since then, Alona Tokovenko’s paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Ukraine and across Europe. 

Additionally, the artist studied at the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (2012-2014) and the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts (2019-2022). In 2022, she enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where she is currently studying. Alona has received support through the DYCP grant program provided by Arts Council England.

The artwork of Alona Tokovenko has been featured in numerous shows, including “Affective Deconstruction” at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2023), “Tattooed Man” at Mimosa House Gallery in London (2023), “I am an Insect” at Galerie Ladislava Sutnara in Pilsen (2022), “Phantom pain” (performative solo exhibition) at Hlebzavod Gallery in Kyiv (2019), and many more. 

Since 2022, the artist has been living and working in France.

Alona Tokovenko’s Famous Paintings: A Visual Journey Through Her Legacy

The artist works with a diverse range of artistic mediums, including oil and acrylic painting, often blending them with three-dimensional forms such as sculpture, installations, and clothing. Alona Tokovenko’s original paintings include “Human Material” (2022), “Melting (Diptych)” (2020), “Fetish” (2018), and “Sense Kit” (2018), among others. Alona Tokovenko’s paintings for sale are available on the UFDA website. 

Her creative repertoire also extends to performance art, fashion design, photography, video, drawing, and collage, including the installation “Affective deconstruction” (2023), the performance “Skin care - body borders” (2023), the performance “Tattooed Man” (2023), and many more. 

Alona Tokovenko’s Art Style

The artist employs abstraction and corporeality to deconstruct the body and consciousness into visual objects. The shapes and perceptions of these objects are rooted in sensitivity and sensuality. She transforms recognizable forms in her mind into an amorphous mass, from which images and characters are shaped. Her faceless figures and abstractions, stripped of inner thoughts and emotions, serve as both shell and essence, embodying raw physiology while confronting painful themes. In Tokovenko’s art, these forms become a medium for recognizing and isolating experiences of distress.