Nata Levitasova (b. 1996, Kyiv) is a Ukrainian artist whose emotionally charged practice reflects both her personal history and the profound shifts in her country. Raised in a creative family surrounded by nature and books, she trained at the T. S. Shevchenko State Art School in Kyiv and later at the Ukrainian Academy of Printing in Lviv. Levitasova exhibited widely from an early age, with work shown across Ukraine and internationally, and held in the collections of the Khmelnytsky Regional Art Museum, Artsvit Gallery, the Dyvokolo Residency, and numerous private collections in Europe and North America. Prior to the full-scale invasion, she experienced an acute premonition of danger that culminated in debilitating anxiety, which lifted only after she left Kyiv for the Carpathians; when the war began on February 24, 2022, fear gave way to anger and urgency. Painting became her primary means of survival and release. Her previously harmonious, semi-abstract style shifted dramatically toward expressive, dark, and chaotic forms, embodying the pain, destruction and emotional violence of wartime reality. Despite this, Levitasova’s work affirms resilience: she holds no illusions about the devastation, yet believes profoundly in the strength and spirit of Ukrainians, insisting that “evil cannot penetrate our souls.” She currently lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia.

Part 7, “Kyiv-Rakhiv Train”, 80 x 60 cm, oil on canvas

“The artist’s painting leaves an optimistic impression - even when the subject matter is neither joyful nor beautiful at first glance. N. Levitasova has a talent for noticing details that most people would overlook. Yet on her canvases, seemingly ordinary and familiar construction cranes, industrial fences, and metal structures acquire elegance and complex composition. It feels as though the landscape is built from a construction set, but it carries deep meaning and intention.

Her colour palette is rich in shades and the use of intricate hues. Pure colour appears only rarely in Levitasova’s works, adding complexity and compelling the viewer to linger over the painting.” (c) Solovey, O., & Chaikovska, S. (2024). The Industrial Landscape in the Work of Kyiv Artists Olena Pryduvalova and Nata Levitasova. Bulletin of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, (2), 102–109. https://doi.org/10.32782/naoma-bulletin-2024-2-15

“The main idea of my work is to explore the influence of urbanism and industrialisation on myself. By immersing into self-reflection, I aim to show how my understanding of the world, my view of it, and my perception change. My industrial series depicts objects like toys - small from above. An infantile attitude toward the issues of nature preservation and the avoidance of bitter truth runs through my work, embodied in bright geometric buildings, machines, and factories,” the artist says about her paintings.