WODEMAN, BORN IN 1975
ABOUT
Wodeman is the artistic name of Oleh Derevianko (b. 1975) — a Ukrainian artist, author, and thinker whose visual work is rooted in metaphysical inquiry, symbolism, and emotional expression.
After more than three decades in business, cybersecurity, and civil society leadership, Derevianko made a radical shift in 2024 to devote himself to his artistic practice and to founding and developing Contemporary Kyiv — a new institution and initiative for contemporary art in Ukraine.
Although he began exhibiting professionally only recently, his engagement with the art world dates back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he co-curated and co-organized exhibitions and other art projects with leading curators, artists, and institutions. In 2001, he founded the Diia Art Promotion Foundation, a charitable organization supporting Ukrainian artists and curators — now succeeded by the Contemporary Kyiv Foundation.
Working across oil, pastel, mixed media, and digital techniques, Wodeman develops series that reflect his personal visual philosophy, articulated in his 2025 manifesto Principles of Modal Realism in Arts.
EXHIBITIONS
Wodeman’s debut solo exhibition, In Search of the Unknown Hero, ran from September 12, 2024 till the end of November 2024 at the Museum of Ideas in Lviv, one of the first independent cultural institutions and art galleries in post-Soviet Ukraine, founded in 1992 and still managed and curated by Ukrainian artist, architect, curator, and civil activist Oles Dzyndra.
His work has since appeared in group exhibitions including:
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Portrait of the Unknown One, Vagabundo (Ivano-Frankivsk), November–December 2025, curated by Anatol Zvizhynsky
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Urban Muse, Mriya Gallery (Tribeca, NYC), April–May 2025
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Faces of Silence, Chicago Grand Gallery, February–March 2025
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Sugar-Free, Mriya Gallery (Tribeca, NYC), December 2024 – January 2025, curated by Tamara Lee
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Transcendence – Artists of Ukraine, San Francisco, December 2024
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Resilience Formula, Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (Kyiv), October 2024 – February 2025, curated by Andriy Sydorenko and Iryna Yatsyk
PRACTICE AND THEMES
In his practice Oleh explores themes of silence, identity, and transformation, inviting contemplative looking and inner work.
The name Wodeman comes from a nickname given by close friends — a playful nod to the literal meaning of his Ukrainian surname — and reflects his evolving relationship with materiality, growth, and memory.
Oleh lives and works in Kyiv, when not traveling or retreating to his beloved countryside in rural Ukraine.