“Mind Booster Art” at the Konstantin Gallery—created and curated by Olga Zbarskaya, PhD, celebrates the power to merge science with art, and reduce stress.
By Tonya Johnson
New York City-based Facial Plastic Surgeon Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD (“Dr K”), and Caroline Friedman, account coordinator of 3d Public Relations and Marketing, recently hosted a live virtual viewing of the “Mind Booster Art” exhibit, presented by Olga Zbarskaya, PhD—from his Konstantin Gallery location in Midtown Manhattan. Their in-depth, interactive dialogue, focused on the aesthetic emotion and well-being of others.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Friedman said healthcare providers and other business owners are sprucing up their work-spaces with mind boosting art to help their staff and patients/clients, who are going through a rough patch, and enduring a lot of stress.
With an unexpected and extended hiatus away from the gallery of typical in-person social events—filled with invited art lovers, cocktails and light music, Vasyukevich explained that “even if we come together in this very restrictive manner, this is something that we all need at this point. Going through a very tough year and difficult New York winter with all the gray and dark colors,” he added, “Mind Booster Art” gives us an explosion of color! I see my patients walking into the office, and their eyes light up when they look at the wall and see those colors—it immediately puts a smile on their faces. This is something we want to share with everybody.”
MOOD BOOSTER
In addition to being an artist, Zbarskaya, is an author, scholar, and the president of OZ CREDO. “Mind Booster Art”—the perceptual medium of colors and shapes designed to bring positivity into the environment and boosts creativity in people, was also invented to celebrate the surprising power of the ability to merge science with art, she explained to the virtual audience. Through her scientifically-based research findings, she designs art to help people change their perception of emotional and behavioral responses. OZ CREDO is a center of creative thinking dedicated to inspiring the development of imagination and complex problem-solving skills.
According to her demonstration, all characteristics of “Mind Booster Art” include symmetry, composition, balance, various levels of abstraction, density, and dynamic that may often provoke a shift in perception and openness to novelty. “Every image exhibited on the Konstantin Gallery wall is different and activates the mind and mood through the colors, unusual shapes, natural forms, and movement,” she said. “Wavelengths of electromagnetic energy colors can actually set a certain mood to stimulate senses and control the flow of energy through our mind, which impacts our feelings,” she reported.
Using a combination of colors, forms, textures, and dynamics, she aims to help healthcare providers, small business owners, and corporations make mind-friendly work environments that are healthier, happier, and more welcoming. But each combination of colors and shapes may have a significant impact on certain individuals, so the primarily acrylic-based art design process can often be lengthy to achieve a precise outcome, especially if she includes special effects.
For example, very bright and vivid colors may cause someone suffering from anxiety to become overly stimulated. As she continues the work, Zbarskaya collects data from healthcare providers, psychologists, and patients to better understand how it all works.
“This has been a challenging year for all of us, and I’m very happy that this vivid imagery is helping patients and medical professionals to improve their mood, attitude, and perform well. Without inspiration, I don’t think anything would be possible. Dr Konstantin beautifies people, and I try to beautify minds and environments.”
READ MORE: FACIAL PLASTIC SURGEON OPENS NONPROFIT ART GALLERY WITHIN HIS PRACTICE SPACE
THE ART OF PLASTIC SURGERY
The art and science concept is very central to Vasyukevich’s medical profession. He founded the non-profit art gallery to promote the arts and connect the general public with talented and emerging artists. Vasyukevich believes that art and plastic surgery are intertwined because there is an acute sense of aesthetics that plastic surgeons share with the artists and sculptors. “People who are searching for plastic surgery and improvement, are usually the ones who greatly appreciate the art,” he shared. “Being able to immerse themselves in a plastic surgery practice environment that offers not only the technical, surgical, and the medical perspective, but also the aesthetic and artistic perspective, has really put my patients at ease. It makes them feel like they’re a part of something greater than just getting a plastic surgery procedure.”
He explained that every artist goes through schooling to learn the techniques of how to paint and how to sculpt. But all of those techniques are just a means to an end. “Because in the end, it’s your vision of aesthetics, it’s your vision of how a particular person should look, and this is something that really takes creativity and artistic ability to bridge the gap between [artistic] vision and technical skills.”
Tonya Johnson is associate editor of Plastic Surgery Practice
