Shum art gallery

Serhiy Hai’s work features several recurring themes: horsemen, the human nude, and still lifes. Masterfully rendered through the interplay of contrasts and colors, as well as precise and free brushstrokes, these seemingly unrelated subjects depict a world that is both dynamic and static.

Indeed, a still life, by its very nature, aims to capture a fleeting moment, frozen nature—French: nature morte—“dead nature.” In English, this genre is called “still life,” referring to the immobility of the depicted objects. Fresh flowers embody the beauty and harmony of the surrounding world, captured on canvas. Bright splashes of color, arranged by human hands into a beautiful bouquet, demonstrate the interplay between the rationality of the human mind and the aesthetics of nature.

Horses represent movement and speed, pure element. Humans have managed to tame wild horses, thereby gaining control over nature. The riders and horses cutting through the space of Serhii Hai’s paintings become a single burst of energy: the human is an extension of primal force, and the horse is an instrument of human intent. Anonymous riders race forward, fleeing from or moving toward whatever the viewer’s imagination conjures. 

The human body in Serhii Hai’s work is multifaceted—endowed with subtle psychological depth, even with just a few brushstrokes on the face, and at times deeply sensual and alluring. The artist strips the figures of all “accidental” elements—clothing, details of daily life—leaving only pure existence: the natural, naked body.

In ancient philosophy, the body was understood as a point of intersection where two universes met: the microcosm—the inner world of the human being—and the macrocosm—the external order of the universe. Thus, the figures in Serhii Hai’s work seem to emerge from space: they are not isolated but are part of a whole.

Confidently creating rhythm with color, the artist depicts the static and dynamic dimensions of life, the interplay of these two states: the rider’s impulse and energy and the calm of the body, as well as the potential in pauses and the fullness and tranquility in movement.