The Ground
By Olga Nenazhivina
New York, New York, USA
This work is more about feelings than words—feelings that are growing into images. It is about how we can feel when we see the first young shoots appear on the Earth's surface. The Earth is our home, and we: plants, animals, and people are her children, and we are one. Each of us has a soul and a journey. When I draw, I combine what seems incompatible but, at the same time, is a whole unity. I form intricate patterns on paper from historical epochs and events, legends, and myths of different cultures. This combination allows us to see and feel how beautiful and united our everyday world is.
I primarily work with paper, ink, dip pens, and brushes. I enjoy this merge of the free lines left by the brush and the delicate ones left by the dip pen. I interpret brush as a symbol of eternal life movement and dip pen as a symbol of human existence. When I start new work, I intuitively paint with a brush and then fill the sheet with details using the pen. Some objects and figures pass from sheet to sheet, acquiring a new meaning. In my opinion, every experienced artist has their own 'data' of images, which accompanies them throughout their creative path. Through these images, artists can talk to the audience about themselves and their inner world. My staple images are faces, the sea, hills, plants, and fish.