Edge of Illusions

We are thrilled to announce an unprecedented collaboration between Rukh Art Hub, the Tukku Magi Project, and the Mriya Gallery—three institutions united in presenting a transcontinental dialogue that bridges America, Ukraine, and Latvia.

Exhibition on Display:
October 23 – November 5
Time: 12 – 7 pm
Location:
101 Reade St, New York, NY 10013

Press Release

Closing Reception:
November 5, 6 PM

In collaboration with: Tukku Magi, Mriya and Rukh Art Hub

“Edge of Illusions” is a profound collaborative exploration by contemporary artists Zoya Frolova and Janis Jakobsons of the most urgent questions of our time: How do artists navigate the complexities of conflict and loss? What emerges when the forward-looking imagination collides with harsh realities?

The exhibition presents an intimate dialogue with the legacy of prominent Ukrainian master Vasyl Mironenko (1910–1964), illuminating inscrutable bonds between past and present, while offering a reflective sanctuary amid contemporary chaos.

Zoya Frolova’s paintings respond to life’s most devastating events with artistic vision. Through the power of metaphor, paper boats replace warships and childhood innocence confronts naval might. When fire, paper, and water converge, they reveal both the fragility of human existence and the profound absurdity of our current moment.

Light objects by Janis Jakobsons, fabricated from silicone, take the form of enormous theatrical chandeliers that could be raised and lowered at the start and end of a dramatic performance. The chandeliers hang above a massive black square of metal shavings, recalling Malevich’s Black Square, and a giant installation with a game of tic-tac-toe by Zoya Frolova. 

The game has come to a stalemate. The contemporary world watches as conflict unfolds, like spectators from theater boxes. Mironenko’s industrial landscapes explore grandiose construction projects and what it means to anticipate eternity, yet then, in a moment, to turn to dust—only to be rebuilt again, through the arbitrary workings of human and inhuman histories. Mironenko’s etchings evoke the Azovstal steel plant and other industrial sites in East/South Ukraine—sites that came under Nazi attack during WWII. These works remind us: history is repeating itself as tragedy. 

Zoya Frolova
Battle Scene, 2013,
oil on linen
55 x 150 in / 140 x 380 cm
Price on request  

Zoya Frolova
Above the Battle,  2012
oil on linen 55 x 63 in | 140 x 160 cm
Price on request  

Zoya Frolova
In the Shadow, 2004,
oil on linen, 18 x 35 in | 46 x 89 cm
Price on request  

Zoya Frolova
Testing the Waters II, 2004, oil on linen, 18 x 35 in | 46 x 89 cm
Price on request  

Zoya Frolova
Turn Up the Silence,  2019
oil on linen 18 x 35 in | 46 x 89 cm
Price on request  

Janis Jakobsons
Rain, 2024, 86.5 x23.5 in (220×60 cm)
Silicon, glass, steel, silk
Scarves, silicon, Price on request  

Vasyl Mironenko (1910-1964)

Vasyl Mironenko was a renowned Ukrainian artist, celebrated as one of the finest masters of color etching.
His industrial landscapes evoke the grandeur of human endeavor, capturing the tension between creation and destruction. Mironenko’s work reflects on the transient nature of achievement, illustrating how monumental structures can crumble into dust through human (or non-human) actions, only to be rebuilt anew.

His pieces often draw inspiration from the Azovstal plant and other industrial sites in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, which were impacted by the Nazis during World War II.
These works serve as a poignant reminder that history has a tendency to repeat itself.
In this context, Vasyl Mironenko’s etchings and Zoya Frolova’s paintings engage in a meaningful dialogue, exploring the poetry that emerges from the drama
of human experience.

Zoya Frolova

Zoya is Latvian-American artist, was born in 1953 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Since 1995, she have been building an international career from my base here in New York.
Graduated from Kharkov State Academy of Art and Design, Kharkov, Ukraine.
Live and work in USA and Latvia.
Her paintings have been shown all over the world, including Centre Pompidou, (Paris), Corcoran Gallery of Art, (Washington, DC), Portland Museum of Art (Portland, OR), Slavic National Gallery, (Bratislava, Slovakia), National Museum in Gdansk (Poland), National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine) – solo exhibition, Latvian national Museum of Art (Riga, Latvia) – solo exhibition, and many others museums as well as private galleries in New York, San Francisko, Stockholm, Basel, Madrid, Brussels, Tokyo.
In 2000, she realized a monumental project for Swire Properties in Central Hong Kong. Zoya was the first woman artist to be included in the Swire collection
In 2019, together with Janis Jakobsons, she started an ambitious American, Northern European, and African culture project called Tukku Magi Museum and Cultural Center

Learn More

Janis Jakobsons

Janis Jakobsons was born in Riga, Latvia.
Since 1995 he has lived and worked in New York.
Graduates Riga College of Applied Art and Latvian Academy of Art, Riga, Latvia.
Janis Jakobson’s works have been shown all over the world, including Design Museum in Gent, Belgium; Design Museum Helsinki, Finnland; Stadelijk Museum, Hertogenbosch, Netherlands;
Lalunis Juveieri Museum, Athens, Greece; Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria;
Tarbeunstmuuseum, Tallin, Estonia; Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Riga, Latvia; The Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia and many others museums as well as private galleries in New York, San Francisco, Brussels, Stockholm, Tokyo.
Janis Jakobson’s works are included in the collections of The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli
Museum at Rugers University, New Brunswick, NJ; National Art Museum, Riga, Latvia; Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Riga, Latvia
In 2019 Janis Jakobsons together with Zoya Frolova started an ambitious American,
Northern European and African culture project Tukku Magi Museum and Cultural Center: www.tukkumagi.org