Biography

Artist's Statement

Olga Kosheleva was born in the Ukraine just months after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe occurred. More than most, she is aware of the fragile balance between the earth’s ecosystems and humanity’s impact upon them.
She began with acrylic and oil-based painting on canvas, but more recently broadened her choice of media to sculpture and other objects. Her work asks us to examine our relationship with the natural world through different lenses—quite literally. In her newest collections, “Connection” and “Virtual or Real?” by painting her creations onto large-scale (2-meter) sunglasses, she invites us to view the beauty of our surroundings through the prism of art. A new way of seeing, that may give us perspective and appreciation for our planet. “We should look at the world through art,” she says. “It has the power to change our lives.”
Olga’s themes are deep—“Plastic All Around” addresses our creation/consumption culture which harms many things---but playful and positive: for example, the crocodiles and shrimp which decorate the lenses of “Survival,” are, on closer examination, composed of smaller human figures. We are all one, this says: we are in this together. Similarly, “Global Warming” shows melting ice caps on one lens, while human faces with thermometer-noses react on the opposite lens. Olga says, “Everyone looking at my artwork should ask: ‘What can I do to have an impact, and improve the planet’s health?”
Certainly, the colorful sunglasses owe an artistic debt to the pop-art explosion of the Sixties, but at the same time bring it into a new frame of reference for a new century, retaining the joie de vivre of Pop while adressing the gravitas of global survival.
Her playfulness extends to other of her art, like the “Art that Moves” series, a whimsical collection of painted baths, bicycles, and chairs. Like “Virtual or Real,” these pieces insert us into the art and challenge us to live and see the world as the beautiful creation it is.
Olga’s collection, “Icebreakers,” was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci prize in Florence in January 2018. In 2017, Olga received an award from the Biennale del Belvedere di San Leucio, Italy. She has participated in exhibitions across Europe and the Americas (Ukraine, Italy, France, Canada) and her work is in many private collections in Europe and the United States.

Exhibition

Selected exhibitions:
2018 - Group exhibition “Art Winter Contemporary”, M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv
2017 - Group exhibition “Art Autumn Contemporary”, M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv
2017 - Biennale del Belvedere di San Leucio, Italy
2017 - Group exhibition “Art Summer Contemporary”, M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv
2017 - Solo exhibition “Art that Moves”, Kyiv History Museum, Kyiv
2016 - Group exhibition “What If Fest”, Lavra Gallery, Kyiv
2016 - Group exhibition “Moving Up”, Kyiv city administration , Kyiv
2016 - Solo exhibition, gallery D 12, Kyiv
2014 - Solo exhibition “Ukrainian Galaxy”, Palace of Congress, Bagnoles de l’Orne, France
2014 - Art Monaco, Forum Grimaldi, Monaco
2013 - Solo exhibition, gallery Lavra, Kyiv
2013 - Art Toronto, Toronto
2012 - Group exhibition “Ukraine and France: Crossroad of Cultures”, Ukrainian cultural center, Paris
2012 - Autumn Salon 2012, Coubron, France
2012 - Group exhibition «Summer’s Memories», museum of Ivan Kavaleridze, Kyiv
2012 - Solo exhibition “Ukrainian Firework”, Gallery Mytets, Kyiv
2011 - Wine Fest Kyiv 2011, Expo Plaza, Kyiv
2011 - Group exhibition of painting, Integral Bank, Kyiv
2011 - Group exhibition of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Central House of Artists, Kyiv
2011 - Solo exhibition «World around Me», museum of Ivan Kavaleridze, Kyiv