OLGA KALASHNIKOVA

Painter, Russia

©reated by Olga Kalashnikova

The Russian painter Olga Kalashnikova was born in Moscow.
As a child she used to spending her summer holidays in Pereslavl-Zalessky, an old Russian town to the north-west of Moscow. The painter’s mother was born here. The region is known for its endless dense forests and clear waters of the river Veksa.
Olga’s esthetical passions were formed in this region.
Olga’s father was a well known painter. He could not spend a day without his sketch pad and paints.
His daughter inherited the tradition.
Her route to painting was not straight forward. After school she chose a career of a ... mathematician.
She studied Applied Mathematics at the Moscow Aviation Institute. After graduating in 1977 started research into the algorithms for cruise missiles.
But Olga’s love for painting did not vanish. Every evening after work Olga started attending art classes to learn more about her real passion in life.
Soon, she left her profession of mathematician and went to the Moscow Academy of Art. In 1988 she graduated at the top of her class. Then she worked in an Art College teaching drawing and painting.
Years of painstaking work, thoughtful and exigent attitude for her creations allowed the painter not only to perceive the figurative language of fine art, but to find her own way to express herself in art.
Olga became a member of the Russian Assiciation of Painters, which is an honor for a painter in Russia.
Russian nature and Russian life became the main themes of her paintings. Her canvases are full of light and poetic harmony. She tries to establish a direct link between the painter and viewers.
This task makes her think about visual methods of art. The painter is sure that art should depict reality, not just give us indications by hints or rebuses.
Olga Kalashnikova is always concerned about painter’s responsibility. From her point of view, a painted picture has a life of it's own and thus affects the viewers. If a painter deforms the beauty of God’s created world, voluntary or not, he spreads a deformed understanding of life.
That’s why Olga tries to choose subjects which are particularly beautiful. Nowadays many artists want to paint differently from the ‘old school’, but she really enjoys following the old realist tradition, which appeared in Russia in the XIX century.
She learned from them how to feel and paint. They were her teachers.
A new phase in Olga's painting carrier started in 1997 when Olga began to work on a theme that perhaps is a little unusual for a woman – the military campaign of famous Russian general Alexander Suvorov who led Russian army through the Alps in 1799 to fight French army.
Despite the fact that Olga was not a painter of battle-pieces, she decided to show in a simple, precise and honest way Swiss and Russian soldiers who fought and died there. She wanted to show paths, bridges and and villages the Russian heroes passed by during the military campaign, as well as the cemeteries where perished Russian soldiers had been buried. She wanted to show the feeling of the Russian soldiers, who came to the Swiss mountains from a flat country.
Olga has had three one-artist exhibitions in Switzerland of her paintings.
As lyrical realist, her focus is on Russian nature and everyday life. Her canvases are full of light and poetical harmony.
Olga’s paintings are like an open door from the noise of the capital city to a borderless homeland where you can hear church bells at sunrise and sunset, where there are living, joyful and suffering human beings.
One of Olga’s art admirers left a comment on Olga's web-site: "you have a talent so heartfelt, colourful and spacious. Let God send you a good health and work. What else can I wish to a creator of joy?".
In November 2006 Olga Kalashnikova brought an exchibition "Three Generations" to the United States to a russian gallery in North Caroline. Americans warmly greeted Olga's works, as well as works of her farther Victor Egorov and her son Egor Kalashnikov.
Olga conducted a number of master-classes.
Next visit in March 2008 brought back old friends as well as new admirers.
Olga Kalashnikova is a member of the Artists Association of Russia. She is a participant of the Moscow, republican and group exhibitions.
Personal exhibitions also took place in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008 (Moscow, the White House - Russian parliament Duma, The Unites Sates etc).
Olga's works are in private collections and galleries in Russia, Austria, England, China, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Japan, USA and in other countries.

Works of art by Olga Kalashnikova are inserted in the following texts:

Die geordneten Verhältnisse der Lea B.: NAME OF THE WORK OF ART
Aus dem Herzen Deutschlands: NAME OF THE WORK OF ART