Just Out of Reach, An Offering of Koi

Just Out of Reach 

An Offering of Koi 

Artist's Statement

Just Out of Reach contrasts real-world thoughts and problems with the innocence of childhood, in an attempt to create an absurdist juxtaposition. The strawberry represents careers and dreams that adults may have, being “just out of reach”; but for children, the highest hope they possess is that of obtaining a simple strawberry.

An Offering of Koi reflects my inner thoughts on existence. “Why are we here?” is what I ask in this painting; and its reply is that it doesn’t quite know, but it can provide me with the sublime beauty of nature (in the form of a koi fish). We probably won’t ever be able to truly grasp the point of our existence, but we can take delight in the overwhelming grandeur found in our natural surroundings (inspired by ideas of Buddhism and the Sublime).

Maria Hromcenco is a Russian-American rising junior at University Scholars Program, PALCS. Her artwork has been published in numerous art journals, such as Celebrating Art and The Junebug Journal. She also has a blog and art shop at imperfect-recovery.com, which includes a variety of poems, short stories, and blog posts relating to her recovery from anorexia. 100% of the proceeds from her shop go to mental health organizations. Maria loves STEM, specifically calculus and biology; she hopes to go into molecular biology or pre-med.