Olga Oreshnikov

Olga was born in St Petersburg, a member of one of the most prominent families of artists.  Her paternal grandfather, Professor Oreshnikov, was Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg from 1953 – 1978.  He was also one of the leading artistic figures in the city and a member of the Soviet Academy.  Olga’s maternal grandfather was Roman Kotliarevsky, a renowned composer and professor of composition at the Conservatory of Music.  Her parents and close relatives are all painters, art historians, or musicians.

Olga’s artistic talents emerged very early in her childhood and were nurtured by her family.  Her early work was exhibited in the Composer’s House and in the Academy of Science when she was 10 and 12 years old.

She became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated with an MA degree in Fine Arts in 1987.  Her work was seen in several exhibitions in St Petersburg in the following 3 years, and she started work as an illustrator of children’s books.  This experience allowed her to draw upon her love of fables, legends, religious stories and folklore.

In 1990, Olga emigrated to Israel.  She works in oil, tempera, watercolour, and gouache in a unique style.  Her paintings are humorous, symbolic, and yet serious in content, meticulously executed and with a fresh and dreamlike quality.  Her assured drawing, elaborate composition and rich use of colour are in the tradition of European painting.  Her images and landscapes seem to be from a different timeless world, telling stories that are tender, dreamy, overpowering and seductive.  Her princesses are like close companions who have been with her since childhood.  They resemble her real-life girlfriends, sometimes bizarre, sometimes sarcastic, at other times funny, but always with a natural authority allowing them to inhabit and conquer the magical world of legends and folk tales.