Colour Gives Me Life is an exploration of the vibrant energy that color brings to our lives, told through the dynamic works of Ludmilla Radchenko, Rachel K, Ihab Ahmad, Laurent Perbos, Yana Abramova, and Samuele Ventanni. United by their bold use of color as a medium for storytelling, these artists invite viewers into worlds where imagination, memory, and transformation come alive in full spectrum.
For Ludmilla Radchenko, color becomes a vibrant expression of memory and experience. Her works blend photography and digital collage with bold brushstrokes, using striking hues to transform personal stories and ordinary scenes into powerful reflections on life’s richness. Radchenko’s palette is a call to see beyond the everyday, drawing viewers into the emotional resonance of each scene. She presents her iconic series in this show, including Icon Recycling, Women’s Icon Magazine, and Brand Revolution —each series employing recycled materials and pop-culture references to critique consumerism and celebrate influential female figures.
Rachel K brings a playful energy to color, with sculptures crafted from second-hand toys and sustainable materials. Her joyful “happy colors” evoke childhood nostalgia, allowing viewers to rediscover wonder and innocence. Through her vivid, eco-conscious creations, Rachel redefines color as a source of both joy and renewal, linking past and present with a sense of hope.
In Ihab Ahmad’s works, color becomes a language of harmony and unity. With recurring symbols like fish, eyes, and trees, Ahmad uses bold, saturated tones to explore connections between nature and humanity. His work draws viewers into a meditative world where color represents universal truths, guiding us toward inner and outer harmony. Rooted in references to his own childhood experiences in Lebanon, Ahmad’s art captures an innocent, almost dreamlike perspective, inviting viewers to imagine a world untouched by fear or hardship. This childlike quality in his compositions reflects a longing for simplicity and peace amid life’s complexities.
Laurent Perbos adds a classical-meets-contemporary dimension to the exhibition. In his series Antik Basketball, Perbos brings together antique sculptures like those of Apollo, Artemis, Meleagre, or Julien de Médicis with unexpected modern elements, such as affixed basketball covers. This juxtaposition between the timeless elegance of classical statuary and the bold, dynamic nature of modern sports objects embodies a dialogue between eras. By layering vivid colors and contemporary textures onto these works, he breathes new life into ancient symbols, casting them in an energetic, accessible light. His pieces invite viewers to consider how cultural symbols evolve over time and acquire fresh meanings, bridging antiquity with today’s visual language and making the classical relevant in a playful, thought-provoking manner.
Yana Abramova invites introspection through her large-scale oil paintings, where color and texture create immersive experiences. Her use of hyper-realistic textures and abstract forms challenges viewers to see beyond surface appearances, using color to evoke the fluidity of emotions and imagination.
Samuele Ventanni redefines space by physically cutting his canvases, integrating color, light, and sound to illustrate the dynamism of time and space. His fragmented compositions reflect the movement from past to future, urging viewers to consider change as an evolving spectrum, where color becomes a bridge to new perspectives.
In Colour Gives Me Life, each artist offers more than a visual display—each piece becomes a narrative, a balm, and a reminder of color’s power to shape our lives and perceptions. The exhibition celebrates color’s transformative essence, encouraging us to see the world with fresh eyes and to find beauty in the extraordinary. Through their mastery of color, Radchenko, Koleilat, Ahmad, Perbos, Abramova, and Ventanni invite us on a journey where art truly breathes life into our view of the world.
Artist Biographies
Ludmilla Radchenko
With a degree in Fashion Design and a passion for blending various artistic techniques, Radchenko has carved out a unique niche for herself in the art world. Using a combination of photographs, digital collage, and lively acrylic painting, Radchenko creates captivating artworks that transcend traditional boundaries. Her pieces are far from classic Pop Art; instead, they serve as a reflection of her own experiences and travels, loaded with social content and a touch of irony.
Radchenko’s artistic style is defined by her anarchic brushwork and the incorporation of digital collage.
Through this fusion, she crafts visually opulent compositions that convey profound narratives of the mundane.
What sets Radchenko’s work apart is its ability to connect personally with the viewer. Each painting reverberates with numerous significances, inviting the audience to form their own interpretations and forge a personal connection with the artwork.
Radchenko’s attraction to Pop Art methods can be traced back to her childhood, where she developed a fascination with the movement’s bold and vibrant aesthetic.
Today, she incorporates these influences into her own unique artistic approach, resulting in artworks that are both visually striking and intellectually stimulating.
Rachel Koleilat
Rachel Koleilat is a Lebanese-French sculpture artist celebrated for her innovative blend of childhood nostalgia and contemporary art. Coming from a family of artists, with her father, a sculptor and painter, as a major influence, Koleilat was destined for a creative path. Her sculptures transcend conventional art by merging her love for toys with sustainable practices and a fascination with technology.
Koleilat is known for her distinctive use of paper mâché and second-hand toys, breathing life into her playful creations that evoke the imaginative wonder of youth. By deliberately choosing “happy colors,” she not only enlivens her pieces but also highlights her belief in the power of art to spread joy and positivity.
Through her evocative fusion of technology, nostalgia, and artistic talent, Rachel Koleilat invites viewers into a whimsical universe, pushing the boundaries of creativity and reimagining the possibilities of sculpture.
Ihab Ahmed
Born in Beirut in 1983, Ihab studied Visual Communication Art at the Lebanese University. He expanded his artistic journey by participating in various workshops focused on silkscreen printing, painting, and drawing.
Ihab enjoys exploring unconventional techniques and materials in his artistic practice, prompting him to go beyond the canvas and delve into the realm of metal and wood sculptures.
In his paintings, Ihab transforms simple images into joyful shapes and vibrant patterns. He describes the majority of his work as exploring concepts related to universal harmony and the connection between nature and humanity.
Ihab’s vivid creations often feature recurring symbols such as fish, eyes, and trees, which are interwoven with bold patterns and geometric forms. Through his art, he invites viewers into an imaginative world—an escape from reality to a vibrant and mystical realm where each viewer becomes a storyteller, crafting and interpreting their own narratives.
Ihab Ahmad has exhibited his work in Beirut, Dubai, Doha, Miami, Paris, Amsterdam, Italy, and many other locations.
Laurent Perbos
Laurent Perbos is a French artist celebrated for his innovative approach to contemporary sculpture and mixed media installations. Known for infusing familiar objects with new meaning, Perbos transforms ordinary materials into visually striking works that challenge viewers’ perceptions. His art often explores themes of transformation, humor, and the intersections of art and daily life.
One of his most notable projects, Six Venuses, was commissioned for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This series reinterprets the classical Venus figure through vibrant, abstract forms that embody movement, strength, and elegance, resonating with the Olympic spirit. Perbos’s work extends beyond traditional galleries, with installations in public spaces that engage diverse audiences and add a dynamic cultural layer to the environment.
Throughout his career, Perbos has exhibited widely across Europe, where his art is known for bridging the gap between the classical and the contemporary. His ability to blend playfulness with depth invites viewers into a dialogue on art’s role in both celebrating and questioning cultural icons.
Yana Abramova
Yana Abramova, a multicultural painter from Germany based between Düsseldorf and Dubai. Born in 1996, she pursued her Studies at the Peter Behrens School of Art in Düsseldorf and the Royal Institute of Technology Melbourne, Australia followed The Ruhr University Bochum.
Yana Abramovas work are large scale oil paintings presenting an exploration of interconnectedness, perception, and the fluidity of form. Through the fusion of abstract shapes and hyper-realistic textures, the artwork transcends conventional boundaries, dissolving distinctions between the real and the abstract, the material and the immaterial. This fluid approach challenges rigid classifications and embraces a diversity of perspectives, inviting viewers to explore layered experiences where meaning is multifaceted and open to interpretation.
This transcendence of boundaries unfolds within a theme of unity in diversity. The artist’s technique of merging abstract and hyper-realistic elements reflects a pluralistic vision, where varied, interwoven realities can coexist harmoniously. By creating a space that accommodates diverse interpretations, the work inspires viewers to reflect on how individual and collective experiences contribute to a richer understanding. Through this unity in diversity, the artwork encourages viewers to contemplate the complexity of their own experiences and relationships within a broader, interconnected context.
In addition to its fluid forms, the artwork also emphasizes the interdependence of perception and meaning. Each viewer’s engagement with the piece becomes a unique act of interpretation, shaped by their personal emotions, memories, and background. This concept, akin to a “fusion of horizons,” underscores the idea that perception is not passive; it is actively shaped by each individual’s perspective and life experiences. The forms and textures of the artwork offer viewers a space for interaction, where meaning arises not solely from the artwork itself but from the dialogue between the observer and the creation. In this dynamic interplay, the artwork serves as a reflective surface, engaging viewers in an experience that is both deeply personal and communally resonant.
Finally, the transcendent nature of the artwork invites viewers to engage in self-reflection and introspection. By challenging fixed boundaries and evoking hybrid identities, the work encourages a journey of personal exploration, prompting viewers to examine their own identities within a larger human experience. This open space for self-reflection transforms the viewing process into an introspective journey, connecting the artwork, the observer, and universal themes of identity, interconnectedness, and belonging. Through these interconnected elements, the artist’s work becomes not only an aesthetic experience but also an invitation to explore one’s place within the broader landscape of human experience.
Samuele Ventanni
Italian Postwar & Contemporary painter Samuele Ventanni, was born in Umbertide, Italy in 1986. Ventanni plays with both concepts of futurism and spatialism by challenging the conventions of present conceptions by becoming avant-garde. The artwork created is built and designed in a manner to capture light, along with manipulating ways to accentuate certain hues and tones. Despite his young age, Ventanni has long been experimenting with the use of jeans fabric, “embroidering” with his own hand paintings with a rigorous flavor, enriched by a playful component expressed through soft foam rubber surfaces. These techniques can be seen in his works of acrylic on canvas, which has been stretched and modelled to create depth.
Inspired by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder of the Futurist movement and art theorist, Ventanni summarizes the progression of century old ideologies and transforms them into artistic representations that illustrate possibilities for the coming millennium. It is with the theme of space that Ventanni works with, that indicates this possibility of creating dialogue between futurism and spatialism.
Ventanni’s process of cutting the canvas in his work, challenges the notion of space both physically and metaphysically, where the movement within the pieces is continually evolving and developing. It is within this development that Ventanni emphasizes that space is eternal, and additionally integrates the fundamental principles of colour and sound to illustrate this. The basic elements are therefore used as a means of investigating the dynamism that arises from different waves of light, which transitions the abstract nature of space into material experimentation. The artist expresses that this shift in paradigm cannot be limited to a static and two-dimensional essence, but to play with the surrounding space and relate it back to the continuing advancements of the future.
Ventanni offers the opportunity to look to the future by imagining circumstances without fear but with confrontation, and encourages that in these circumstances to contemplate the break and separation between past and present. This positions and guides the concept of Ventanni’s work to raise awareness of our current reality, by amalgamating the effects of futurism and spatialism to flow through his pieces and into materiality.
