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Magazine " Imperia of property " (Ukraine) ¹ 4, 2001
" The Small drop of happiness "
Let me to introduce - artist Olga Konoshchuk; Talented and young, she is now only 24 years of age. Someone once said: if youth counts for lack of experience, this lack will pass quickly and without great effort. And today we have an opportunity to congratulate Olga with graduation diplomas for her fine arts degree, and her degree work "Breath of Kiev in Evening".
The correspondent: Olga, I have heard that you are a very interesting person. When did you start on the road to art, and what success have you had so far?
Olga Konoschuk: I received my first formal art education at the state art school Ò. Shevchenko. Apart from drawing I was also fond of music and architecture. Nevertheless the inclination to painting prevailed over the other interests. My exhibition activity started from ‘Committee for protection of the World’ at Mariyinsky palace at 13 years of age. Since 16 years of age, I actively participated in international art exhibitions, in Ukraine, and abroad. Last year, whilst still a student of faculty of painting of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Architecture, I was accepted as a full member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.
Corr: How is your success is measured? Quantity of works? Exhibitions? Or something else?
Î.Ê: Quantity of works it not the most important, the size of a canvas too is not important. The main thing is feelings, which are aroused during viewing of my pictures by spectators. It provides positive energy that I try to transfer to other people. I almost never have to search for something new to provide a creative push. Usually the necessary inspiration finds me.
I try to create whilst in a good mood so as not to put any negative elements into my work. But it is even more important, that a viewer does not depart from a picture indifferent, and most importantly leaves with no desire to characterize the essence of a picture with the help of words. If the essence of a canvas can be captured in a few phrases - there was no sense to create a canvas in the first place. It is essential to feel the work only, otherwise better just to write and not paint.
Corr: You have finished your education. Probably, you already have certain plans for the future?
Î.Ê.: I have some interesting offers. But, life each day contributes changes. Therefore I do not make concrete plans for the future …Creating work provides me with financial independence, and I cannot say, that I refuse offers. The thing in all of this is that there should be an advance in my experience and this is what I seek.. I do not try to connect the life of my works with any particular country, I like to make something new and independent free of the restrictions of life.
Corr: Olga has shown me a reproduction of her pictures. In conversation there was a pause; not because I had already asked Olga about everything that interested me; but because I had opened her album - and something there struck me, carried me in the varied world of Color. The larger part of her work was in abstract style it struck me that it evolved at the end of second millennium when the color world of a photo, so accessible and clear, had entered the life of each person. It struck me that painting should push a person to reflection, contemplation. Earlier artists tried the opposite, to represent the world realistically on a cloth. Here the picture first of all should transfer feelings of the creator, her special mood and personal perception of the world. Probably, in this context, the main distinction between a photo and painting relates to the transfer of proportions and forms - for exact purposes there is a camera - for feelings and personal impression there are paintings.
Corr: Olga, why do you paint?
Î.Ê.: Painting is the magic of Color... Bright city lights, the screen of the TV and even a black-and-white photo I sometimes perceive as being of a different time, and for me produce a call, a push to creativity. Creative people tend to make abstract paintings, and at different times when you look at an abstract picture, they produce different emotions depending on mood and environment.
Corr: Does your creativity have the support or approval of your relatives and family?
Î.Ê. Yes, my style is supported very much by my father. Abstract pictures please him more than the pictures executed in traditional techniques of painting. My professors many times tried to reject my style, to turn me to realism, but in time came to respect me for my purposefulness, fidelity to sensations - instead of to the traditional themes and techniques.
Corr: Among works, which were shown to me by Olga, part are devoted to her home city. Another strong theme was the presence of water - yachts among restful blue. Blue "water" colors dominate in the majority of her pictures - and with water there is a long held association and connection with refreshing, cleaning and clearing. It is possible for this reason that near to her works a person feels easy and cozy.
I look at a small abstract square and I try to understand what it is. Some dark lines cross quiet cyan-blue space. And almost on the center, there is something similar to a drop which has fallen on glass. Probably, it is an evening city viewed through a window? Or a tear? Maybe this picture represents the circle of life itself? Maybe this is where the essence of the author herself can be found.? I am sure many of us search for this for a long time, but never find it … and Olga managed to find it and to show us all. Now it is clear, why the drop is in the center of the work, to hide happiness in a corner from anybody makes no sense.
Ð.S. Olga and I met simply in the open-air, and an interesting thing happened: I had just started to consider her pictures, when from the sky the rain started, causing me to rise from the park bench as though forced by the natural forces of the pictures by this artist.
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