Olga Klim (Klymenko)
Ukraine / Poland
Social Media
Instagram
How would you describe your work?
I work in the field of digital and analog collage. I create illustrations for print and online editions, advertising, posters, prints for clothing, illustration and even for music composition.
I work in the genre of surrealism. In my work I play with styles and colors - combine modern and retro photographs with works of art, engravings.
Collage and surrealism allow me to create without frames and restrictions. Allusions, metaphors and paradoxes of surrealism open up new meanings and encourage the viewer to fantasize, reflect, and philosophize. Collage and surrealism don't seek to subvert realism and don't attempt to go beyond it but seeks various means to explore reality itself and they help people feel and fantasize.
In my work I explore the impermanence of the surrounding world and its impact on a person, on feelings and decisions. I like to explore various aspects of our existence and emotions as a factor that unites people, as well as the multifaceted process of personality formation.
Through my art, I strive to capture the essence of profound human experiences, inviting viewers to participate in a reflective and emotional journey of self-discovery, understanding of themselves and of others.
What inspires you?
For me, the human phenomenon and the color phenomenon are an endless source of inspiration. Anything that manifests itself in the creative aspect of other people inspires me, and people’s biographies motivate me.
Color and light evoke emotions in me, even if I am emotionally empty. My fascination with psychoanalysis, esotericism and the study of human behavior in various situations serves as a rich source of my creativity.
Can you speak about your process?
The process of my work depends on the task I must accomplish. If it’s my own project, I have more freedom in my intuitive creativity and I can experiment with shapes, colors, textures images, photos. All depends on what comes first - an image, a feeling or an idea. In this case, I don’t make preparatory sketches, define a theme and choose a particular direction and style for collage.
Artwork and ideas are created in the process and governed by feelings, associations, forms that are born in the combination of different elements, materials, textures, colors. I love this moment of play.
I am fascinated and always wonder how changing the shape and place of an element affects the perception of the collage as a whole, how the composition changes and other meanings are born.
It gives me a sense of multifaceted possibilities and not only in creativity, but also in life. Every time the creative process proves to me that even small changes can change the life situation in any direction and fill life with other meanings.
The work process is quite different if the collage must accompany an article, news, or advertise a service or product. In this case there is a starting point and a number of tasks on the basis of which a concept is created, a general idea, style, color solution is defined and a mood board is made.
And then I work with the texts, and I choose the elements in the text, the situations, the concrete facts that can be illustrated, I think the artistic vision that I can fill and animate the text with imagination, associations, contexts, symbols and forms. And only after all of this I start to select materials for the collage (photos, textures, create filters) and start work on the composition.
I briefly talked about the two approaches and the difference of the process in my work but each of them fascinates me in the game of the creative world.
How did you become interested in art?
My love for art was born from childhood thanks to two factors - my parents and the place where I was born. My mother is a very creative person, but creativity did not become her profession, it was a part of her life. She instilled in me a love for music and theater, my father for literature, philosophy and history. We attended many exhibitions, concerts, went to museums and theaters. Through painting and literature I studied history, I was interested in era's in which artists lived.
Being a teenager, I was fond of theater and went to the theater studio, where I studied acting - it developed in me the emotional sphere of my life. In addition to studying acting, we created sets, drew and created stage costumes. It was a good and hard time at the same time, because the USSR, in which I was born, collapsed and the restoration of independent Ukraine was underway. Against the background of the unsettled and depressing atmosphere that surrounded people at that time, art was for me a portal to another bright and emotional life.
I was surrounded by art, and I was creating art. Art gave me a sense of freedom. The desire to explore and visualize events and feelings, led me to the versatile art form of collage. Collage gives me a sense of freedom and can convey all the surrealism of our modernity.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
This is always a difficult question for me because I have many favorite artists, but I talk about those whose art has influenced my perception of the world and my freedom to express myself. Surrealism and its representatives such as Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and the suprematism of Kazemir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Lazar El Lissitzky had a great influence on me.
I can’t fail to mention photographers: Chema Madoz, Philippe Halsman, Rodney Smith, Man Ray.
I love black and white movies: Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino.
Currently I'm reading "The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone" by Olivia Laing.
What advice do you have for younger artists?
My advice: do not be afraid of "white leaf", do not be afraid of mistakes and a lot of practice, the rest will be managed by your brain.
Take part in competitions, open calls, do not be afraid to show your creativity.Any more thoughts about art, creativity, or anything else you would like to share?
Art is freedom.
