CURRENT EXHIBITION
Nina Murashkina:
"Her Beasts"
May 29 – June 12, 2025
On May 29th, we will be hosting a show opening for our Ukrainian artist-in-residence, Nina Murashkina. The show, titled "Her Beasts," will run through June 12th.
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Nina Murashkina is a multidisciplinary Ukrainian artist based in Spain.
Her bold, vivid aesthetic draws from Ukrainian naïve art, Indian and Japanese visual traditions, and ancient mythology.
Murashkina describes her work as “delicious details from the subconscious and the extreme limits allowed in social relations.”
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Her goddess-like heroines embody the dual nature of womanhood: both lustful and innocent, provocative and tender, brutally honest and mysteriously dark.
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“At the heart of my art is storytelling,” she says. “I build personal myths, where characters are interwoven in worlds shaped by Eros and Thanatos. Magical feminism defines my vision — I reinterpret reality through a mythical lens. The central figure is always the woman: a powerful force, a triumphant deity who can ride animals, wise men, or even the world itself.”
From the Artist:​​
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In this surreal series, Her Beasts, I channel the mystical energy of feminine symbolism that runs through all my work. The Beasts — a blue tiger, ghostly horses, moon-eyed cats — are not merely imagined creatures. They are living metaphors, surfacing from the depths of my subconscious like dreams on the edge of dissolving.
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I work across several mediums: acrylic painting, delicate paper silhouettes, and graphic drawings. These techniques allow me to shift between density and lightness, presence and suggestion — much like the Beasts themselves, who move between the visible and the invisible. The layered textures and contrasts of materials reflect the emotional dualities I explore: vulnerability and strength, instinct and reflection.
Each Beast is both a challenge and a companion — a mirror veiled in mist, revealing the untamed, unspoken parts of the self.
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For the women who inhabit my painted worlds, the Beast becomes a rite of passage.
Sometimes she is stilled by its presence, shaken by what it awakens in her. At other times, she rides it with fearless grace, carried through dreamscapes shaped by desire
and fear.
The Beast is not something I aim to conquer. It’s a force I move with — wild, intimate, and transformative. In this ecstatic meeting of softness and savagery, a new kind of
strength is born — luminous, inner, and wholly her own.
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-Nina Murashkina
Photo Credit: Iryna Kalamurza
Our Mission
The John David Mooney Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational arts organization located in Chicago, IL.
The Mooney Foundation is a collaborative workspace, a public venue, an artistic laboratory and a working archive. The Foundation utilizes its multiple gallery spaces to exhibit art and host events.
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With a focus on international art and artists, the Foundation offers free public exhibitions, lectures and educational seminars throughout the year.
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For over 40 years, the John David Mooney Foundation has also offered Internships and Apprenticeships aimed at providing artists with the opportunities to create new works, gain exposure, and develop new leadership opportunities within the community at large.
The Foundation's work is for the community, and it is sustained by the community.
The John David Mooney Foundation offers its programs and exhibitions on a complimentary basis to all.
Our mission to create wholly accessible public platforms for creative and cross-cultural discourse in Chicago is accomplished thanks to the commitment of donors, volunteers, and advocates who give of their time, talent, and resources.