OCA Magazine: Tell us about yourself and your creative work

Nadia Olefir: My main profession is graphic designer. I live in the environment of fonts, slogans, pictures and their relationships. After I moved to Japan, my focus gradually shifted from graphic design to modern art. I entered another world with different laws of gravity. I had a feeling that my personal space was widening and being filled with creativity

OCA: What is your painting style? And what influenced your style?

NO: I paint my works in an abstract style which was perhaps influenced by my abstract view on the world. Frankly speaking, it’s a very funny and yet exciting story of existence. In my world, all forms are merely decorations which can be replaced, and so new storylines can be created. 

My favourite writer Grigori Pomeranz, who studied zen-Buddhism, said: “you need to stand on nothing and hold everything”. The depth of these words amazed me and is still unfolding and widening inside myself. My poetry is very much reflected in my paintings. Or it’s better to say that my poetry and painting are in unison: there are no borders between them. All my abstract paintings smoothly transit into poems and vice versa. It’s a double maneuver which  grasps both vision and heating and creates an incredible volume of perception of art. 

OCA:Name your favourite artists

NO: It’s hard to choose favourite ones because each genius occupies a certain ‘honeycomb’ of my heart and brings his or her own unique ‘honey flavour’. For me, Shagal, Kandinsky and Malevich are timeless painters. An important part of my life is occupied by a poet Zinaida Mirkina, I. Brodsky and L. Aronzon, as well as Andrey Tarakanovsky – he reflects my subconscious. 

OCA: What is your favourite piece of art and why?

NO: My most favourite piece of art is the whole world of God. Everything He drew or wrote on a universe canvas, everything living and not so – is a masterpiece. Even the darkest corners of a painting support the harmony of the whole work. Dark and dirty shades very well highlight the bright colours. But the most beautiful out of all the Creator wrote is the canvas itself before any creation started. 

White, clean and empty.

One of my poems has this moment of whiteness: 

Washed whitened overwhelmed

You are … clean.

Shaved by the wind

Weathered in the morning

Flat … sheet.

In a fictional world

Losses … no.

White on white

Only God … light.

OCA: Have you ever taken part in the Eurasian Creative Guild events? 

NO: This winter I joined a very warm meeting with a B.ART group and the Eurasian Creative Guild in London. It was really nice to realise that such an art space like ECG exits. Knowing that you’re not alone makes you really excited. 

OCA: What does the Eurasian Creative Guild mean for you and how did it influence your creative activity?

NO: For me it’s a unique platform of live socialisation with talented people, an opportunity for self-realisation, a source of inspiration and new ideas, a sense of unity and mutual understanding.

 OCA: What projects do you plan to participate in the future?

NO: I participated in the poetic almanac “Voice of Friends” which is scheduled for autumn 2020. I really hope that in the future I can make video-poetry.

OCA: What would you wish for people that have just started their journey in the arts?

NO: Just listen to your inner voice carefully, there is everything a creative person needs: inspiration, live enthusiasm and lots of energy.

OCA: In general, what is your attitude towards painting in Eurasia?

NO: I see a huge potential in the development and expansion of borders. Eurasian counties make a significant contribution to the spiritual part – the heart and basis of the art, which like beads on a thread all the surface genres of the modern world are strung on.