Olga Pastekova
The topics of my paintings are variations on the internal feelings of individuals living in a dehumanized urban environment. Essentially, I am a figural painter. My works always include certain concrete beings, creatures, animals, or their shadows. These figures are sometimes not concrete only suggested. To me, the world of phantoms and myths is more real than reality. I perceive the creatures that live there to be with us; I listen to their voices, especially during the night. Additionally, I am amazed by urban architecture. At a certain point amid the nocturnal dwelling there is a sudden moment of silence—as though everything has died. It is a metaphysical feeling.
I find inspiration in the atmosphere of the night and in the juxtaposition of civilization and the animal world. I create my own personal mythology and I work with symbols of life, death, transformation… I started the cycle Nights Are Not Asleep during a Art-residency in Berlin. I am interested in themes and topics concerning ecological and environmental problems. In the past—we humans—have not been very “nature-friendly“; we have forgetten that we are a part of nature. Our selfishness has led wild animals to adapt to us. Every city and every country is known for the wild animals that have been living there naturally. London and Berlin have the fox (Vulpes vulpes);Vienna has the badger (Meles meles); the bear (Ursus arctos) is the symbol of Berlin.
In the cycle Nights Are Not Asleep I have prepared a special light installation. I call the pictures „shining paintings“. In these dynamic compositions are living animals and their ghosts confronted with symbols of “human order“.
