“In every artist there is a touch of audacity without which no talent is conceivable.” Although this Goethe’s quote is almost two centuries old, the passage of time has only strengthened its meaning. Nowadays, the truthness of the legendary philosopher’s words has been successfully proven by OLY.B, a young artist from Los Angeles.
OLY.B’s art leaves no chance for anyone to stay indifferent. Shock, delight, disgust, excitement, bliss – the list of strong emotions aroused by OLY.B’s paintings can be continued indefinitely.
Her art is exactly the case that is better to see once than to hear about a thousand times.
How it all began
Twenty five years ago, in the family of an entrepreneur and a special education teacher, a daughter was born. The girl did not have a lot of social interactions, but it did not bother her at all. Actually, she did not really need to talk to her peers. Her best friends since the early childhood were easel, brushes, paints, and the boundless world of vivid fantasies.
“I had a peculiarity: I drew people starting with their feet, not the head…” – OLY.B recalls – “Everyone said that this meant that I would stand on my own feet throughout my life.”
The passage of time has confirmed these claims. Today, OLY.B is a wealthy artist, who sells her work in an unconventional way – independently, without galleries.
“By the way, this is also a phenomenon, because it is almost impossible to sell a painting for a decent price without a gallery. What I do is a unique, one-off case,” – OLY.B says with a smile.
A road to the City of Angels
She traveled a lot across
the world, often visited America, but a thought to stay here forever never came to her mind. But destiny decided otherwise.
“Once, when I was at university, I had a conflict with one of the professors, and in order to reward myself for my damaged nerves, I bought a ticket to Los Angeles. The choice of the city was completely random – I had an American visa and absolutely no worries about where to go. I fell in love with LA as I was just getting off the plane!
In a moment, i felt an extraordinary unity with this place, but for a long time I did not think about moving. I’d often been to LA as a tourist, and in 2018 I decided to stay here permanently,” – OLY. B says and adds quietly – “I have a special connection with this city. Here I am – at my home.”
The Birth of OLY.B
Los Angeles have influenced not only the soul of OLY.B, but also her creativity. After a first landmark trip here, Butchenko began to paint with oils. Before that, she worked only with digital tools – she printed paintings on canvas and installed LED-lighting in frames.
After four years of being a permanent LA resident, she discovered a new material to work with – acrylic paints.
“I used to be afraid of it, but when I tried, I fell in love. The advantages of acrylic paint are that it can be combined with other materials and mediums and it goes well with almost anything. In addition, you do not need to wait a few days until each layer of paint is dry,” – OLY.B says.
The distinctive vibes of OLY.B are women in purple and men in grayish-brown colors. In addition to that, she uses special patterns, which you will not find on the canvases of other masters. Also, OLY.B uses the technique of a wet paper tissue, which she discovered by herself. With the help of this technique, she creates large golden details that magnetically attract the eye.
“Pervaded”, or paintings with personal history
In each of her paintings OLY. B invests not only a part of her soul, but also a fragment of her life story. Importantly, the artist does not explicitly portrays the exact events or people who inspired her to create a masterpiece, but she admits: the women on her paintings are self-portraits, and the subjects of the paintings are taken from private life.
“Each of my paintings is a reflection of my inner state at a certain period of life. I tend to leave parts of my soul, of my personal history on each canvas. For example, the painting called “Pervaded” fully reflects my essence, worldview, and character. This picture has everything. It’s like an icon to me,” says OLY.B.
Amulets, cheetahs, and lantern-dreams
Like any other creative person, OLY.B believes in symbols.
She even has her own talisman that she believes brings her luck. “There is a ring with a copy of my eye. It looks like I have a real eye on my hand. It means a lot to me. I don’t know why, but ever since my childhood I always liked drawing eyes. I also had a keychain on the keys with a drawn eye, which I brought from Egypt.
And, overall, i really like to have an eye contact for a long time. I don’t know why I’m so attracted to eyes”.
At the same time, OLY.B compares herself to a cheetah: “I am the same freedom-loving, purposeful wild loner. But I am kind and honest. In three seconds, I can start being active at 110 km/h, and then take a long rest. In such moments, I feel myself very vulnerable,” – the artist admits.
And, of course, like any creative person, OLY.B cherishes a dream associated with art, but she does not want to talk about it out loud. Yet, she does not hide that it stubbornly follows her: “This dream, like a lantern, illuminates my way. Every day I live to come to it, diluting all vivid emotions and situations to live the most fulfilling life.”
Person OLY. B