Jaroslav Leonets travels his country and often his memory to find landmark areas, bucolic and beautiful. He proudly wants us to see the stunning panoramas as much as he wants to wrap himself in them while Russia steps up its savage war. With jewel-toned hues and broad brush strokes, he jolts our news-infused brain away from Russia’s daily attacks to his immersive fields and forests on canvas. The vistas are rich, warm and voluminous. Indeed these works are more than memory, more than distraction. They are exquisite paintings imbued with exquisite resilience because Leonets has not left; he remains on his native land, doing what he is meant to do, documenting its great beauty. An award-winning artist highly prized in Ukraine, with residencies, public installations, and exhibitions, including Kyiv’s Contemporary Art Institute, he graduated from the Kharkiv Art College in easel painting and earned an MA in monumental painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture.