A Ukrainian art exhibit in New Jersey is shining a light on artists from Kyiv.

The paintings are striking, some large in scale, as if the artists were shouting "freedom” -- and in fact, they were.

"This show is a great testimony to the Ukrainian artists forging their identities during a very trying transitional moment,” says Olena Martynyuk.

Martynyuk is curator of "Painting In Excess: Kyiv's Art Revival." The artwork was created between 1985 and 1993, important because during those years, Ukraine came out from under the rule of the former Soviet Union, and artists could express themselves more openly.

The abstract works were once prohibited by the government, she says. But as Martynyuk looks back on the period, she is very much thinking of today.

Julia Tulovsky assisted in putting together the exhibit. She is Russian and a curator of Russian art at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. The two organized the show long before their respective countries were at war, but the conflict has brought new public interest in the art.

“I think it's very important to emphasize the uniqueness and the particularities of Ukraine and Ukrainian culture through this exhibition in particular,” says Tulovsky

Some 60 works are on view. The exhibit has been extended and is open to the public through April 10 at the Zimmerli Art Museum on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. Admission is free.