Location: United Kingdom
I am an artist of Russian-Ukrainian origin, living and working in York, UK. I got my BA Graphic design in Russia, but I have been oil painting since I was 13, and sold my first painting when I was 14. Being a student, I worked part-time as art teacher for children, after that I worked in graphic design. All that time I kept painting. In 2009 I moved to Latvia and studied psychology and art therapy for a few years to have better understanding of the connection between psychology and art. I am also interested in sculpture and medieval theatre, so from 2008 to 2015 I was making art-dolls, I was a member of Baltic Guild of Doll Makers and participated in both local and international exhibitions as a doll-maker. I also participated in several volunteer projects: an art-project for people with mental health problems, LGBTIQ-art projects, an auction “Art for Peace” for helping Ukrainians. In 2015 my spouse and I moved to Britain, I got self-employed status and started to be a UK artist.
Exhibitions:
June 2017, participation in the art exhibition "Nature's Beauty Art Contest". International Gallery Of The Arts (IGOA)
March 2015, participation in the charity exhibition and auction "Art for peace". Riga, Latvia
November 2013, participation in the art exhibition of the project “Sava Istaba”, Riga, Latvia, paintings, dolls
April 2013, International Live rainbow museum, Riga, Latvia, dolls, comix
May 2013, «Queer Riga» - Czech TV filmed me and my dolls
March 2013 International Live rainbow museum, Riga, Latvia , dolls
January 2013, International Live rainbow museum , Stockholm, Sweden, dolls
2012, I participated in dolls exhibitions in Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia).
October – November 2011, my personal dolls exhibition «My visiting card. Olga Helly: The Dolls», Riga, Latvia.
2010- 2011 I participated in dolls exhibition "Laterna magika" in Kaliningrad (Russia), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Tallinn (Estonia).
My artworks are about the area between the real and the abstract world. Thinking about visible reality, I keep asking myself where the boundaries between the objectively existing world and the world of human perception are; what is the moment when the beholder sees natural or architectural forms as abstract blots and in which case they are perceived as real objects with specific meanings. This is why paining a landscape I usually focus on those elements of reality that have the greatest abstract potential.
“The Road To Abstract Reality #3”
Painting, oil on canvas. 25.5x30.5cm, 2016
“The Road To Abstract Reality #5. Field”
Painting: acrylic and oil on canvas. 51x76 cm, 2016
“The Road To Abstract Reality #4. Garden”
Painting: Oil on Canvas. 40x50cm, 2016
Painting: Oil on Canvas. 40x50cm, 2018
I used to live in Russia and Latvia, and now am living in the UK, and every time moving to the new country, I realized that I can no longer stay within the boundaries of one culture and one society. At some point I clearly understood that my nationality is pan-European. This personal transformation has been reflected in my art.
I can see two basic connections among European people. One of them is in our shared cultural Past – these are our classical myths and the influence of Christianity. The other one in our Present – this is our global postmodernist cultural space.
My artworks’ series «Classical myths and the reality of postmodernism» is based on these symbols of the Past and reality of the Present and it is about our (and my own) pan-European culture.
Painting: oil on canvas, 40x50cm, 2018
Painting, oil on canvas, 50x50cm, 2018
“The Spring Fog”
“The human ( self-portrait)”
“Drink it up!”
