Alexander Stepanets’ practice uses satire, allegory and a sharply controlled visual language to confront the psychological and social conditions shaped by violence, fear and moral collapse. Trained in printmaking at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts, Stepanets brings together technical precision and critical urgency, constructing images that expose the instability of human values under pressure.
Working across printmaking, drawing, ballpoint pen, watercolour and linocut, his work is inseparable from his lived experience of war, occupation and captivity. Rather than approaching these subjects as distant political themes, Stepanets addresses dehumanisation, survival and human rights violations from the position of direct witness. Through grotesque, surreal and symbolic imagery, he transforms personal trauma into broader allegorical forms, creating works that resist passive viewing and ask the viewer to confront the absurdity, brutality and moral ambiguity of contemporary conflict.
Are you self-taught, or did you undertake formal artistic training?
My formation is rooted in academic training at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts, where I specialised in printmaking. This education established a structural understanding of composition, material and visual logic, which I later redirected towards critical and socially engaged content.
How would you define your visual language or conceptual approach?
My work operates through satire and allegory as analytical tools. I construct images that expose the instability of moral systems and the fragility of human values under pressure. The grotesque and the surreal are not stylistic choices alone. They are necessary instruments for describing a reality that has itself become distorted.
Can you describe your creative process from conception to completion?
Each work begins with a tension, an ethical, political or psychological conflict that demands articulation. I translate this tension into symbolic structure through drawing, then develop it materially through ballpoint pen, watercolour or linocut. The process is precise and controlled, but its origin is always rooted in urgency.
Does narrative, symbolism or storytelling play a role within your work?
Narrative exists in my work as a system of encoded meanings rather than linear storytelling. Symbolism allows me to condense complex experiences into visual signs, creating images that function as concentrated reflections of reality rather than its direct depiction.
Which artists have most influenced you, historically or contemporarily, and why?
A significant influence is Hieronymus Bosch, whose ability to construct dense allegorical worlds offers a model for addressing human nature in its extremes. His work demonstrates how imagination can serve as a critical instrument for revealing ethical collapse and spiritual conflict.
What personal, cultural or environmental influences shape your practice?
My practice is inseparable from my experience of war, occupation and captivity. These are not themes I approach from a distance. They define my position as an artist. Ukrainian cultural identity and the ongoing violence against it form the framework within which my work operates, alongside a broader engagement with human rights violations.
Where is your studio based, and how does the space inform your creativity?
The destruction of a fixed studio has altered my understanding of space. Working within residencies in Zurich, at Gleis 70, and Lancy, at La Dépendance, shared with Victoria Plotnikova, provided temporary stability. However, my practice no longer depends on a permanent location. Its continuity lies in thought rather than place.
Do you have any rituals or rhythms that anchor your studio practice?
There are no rituals in a traditional sense. What sustains the practice is a constant intellectual and ethical engagement with reality. The need to address violence, injustice and the condition of the human being under extreme circumstances defines both rhythm and direction.
What bodies of work or projects are you currently developing?
I am currently working on two interconnected directions. One consists of illustration in ballpoint pen and watercolour, where satire becomes a direct response to contemporary social and political conditions. The second is the linocut series ZWO a cycle of two-colour prints, 30 × 40 cm, in a limited edition of 10, eight of which have been exhibited. This series emerges from the lived experience of war, employing grotesque and surreal imagery to articulate the absurdity, violence and systemic dehumanisation embedded in the concept of the so-called ‘special military operation.’
Where can collectors encounter or acquire your work?
My works are presented through exhibitions and collaborative initiatives across Switzerland and Europe, including projects with ToArtists. Direct acquisition is possible through personal contact, while exhibitions remain the primary context for encountering the work in its full conceptual framework.
