Sokolova Olga

Biography

Artist Olga Sokolova.
1963 – Born in Moscow.
1988 - Graduated Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry with master’s degree in “interior art design”
1990 - Until now- participant in Russian and foreign art exhibitions. Engaged in painting, interior design and scenography.
1997 - Awarded a medal and diploma for participating in preparation of 850-year Moscow city anniversary conducted by Moscow government.
2019 - Awarded a Certificate of Honor by the Department of Culture of the City of Moscow for her great contribution to the development of culture of the city of Moscow.
2020 -personal exhibition "Moscow Pictures" in the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, InGallery Gallery, Moscow, st. Moscow
Member оf The Union Of Artists Of Folk Art.
Member of the Union of Artists of Russia.
While studying in Stroganov academy, Olga painted and designed interiors. Teachers used to say she has a great taste. Together with talent and diligence it became the basis for her own painting style. Her interest in lubok prints became professional, and the knowledge of Russian history and religion helped her in the works. Every author needs to prepare thoroughly for his project. During the studies, Olga became interested in lubok, which led to the investigation of historic materials about our ancestors’ lives. For a long time Olga attended Lenin’s library, worked with rare books, watched filmstrips with the images of ancient manuscripts and studied ancient sketches. She got so involved into this world that she could easily picture her favorite ancient Russian characters, so she decided to depict them. That’s how her first paintings in picturesque lubok style were born, the predecessor of which was graphic lubok. This print was widespread in Moscow, Moscow region and the north of Russia in the 17th century.
The technique is the following: canvas, tempera and acrylic. The subject is everything connected to poetic traditions of Russian way of life, beliefs, rites, festivals, tales and iconographic themes. One can easily see the author’s love to understated colors of nature in the north of Russia, and, at the same time, bright costumes, household items, painted huts, and unbelievably beautiful ancient Russian songs and tales. The lyrics of these ancient Russian songs and tales are introduced in her paintings. The result is fairy tale paintings on which you can see everything, including the main plot in the center of the canvas and additional text with dynamic visual story around this work of art, like on hagiography icons.
The plot is decorated with ornaments, which serve as a portal to a world the author tries to get to through time and years.
Except the excitement from the paints and the plot, it is always a delight to recall Russian roots and traditions.
Olga Sokolova is a great Russian artist and a great person, she faithfully serves art and people, maybe she even knows the secret of Russian soul that you can easily find in her paintings!
Without understanding the past, one cannot fully understand the present. The future is impossible without the present. The awareness of deeply rooted culture, the understanding of more than a thousand years old art synthesis helps to become a piece of this complicated world, which contributes and interacts with human being. Fine art is an expression of an attitude to what has happened and what is happening, time has no boundaries. Studying of our ancestors’ history is not prohibited. How did they live? What were they interested in? What did they do during the day? How did they look like? What was considered being beautiful? What did they value? What did they pay attention to? These questions demand investigation of history and history of art as well as rituals understanding. A lot of traditions have been lost, but some of them live until now. Consciously or unconsciously, we do the same our ancestors have been doing for centuries. This ability is given to us at the very birth. Our land is rich with legends, tales and songs. Thanks to imagination and knowledge of Russian art history, artist Olga Sokolova is willingly able to tell her contemporaries about ancient traditions. Stressing the importance of old times, enjoying the beauty of ancient songs, legends and tales she naturally illustrates festivals and fairy-tale motifs as well as she highlights costume ethnographic details, household items and ancient Russian architecture.
Art expert Nina Osadchaya