Olga Bologo is a self-taught artist who was born in Nizhny Tagil in the Ural Mountains, USSR in 1982. Her family moved to work in the steel industry in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India when she was 4 years old. Growing up in an exotic location, she established an early interest in nature and painting.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, followed by her return, the country was devastated by economic, social, and spiritual crisis. She couldn’t pursue a career in art, and opted for a major in English as a Second Language. After graduation she completed her PhD in Comparative Linguistics. Her study of conceptual metaphor and its key role in human cognition and emotion helped her frame her artistic vision.

Having moved to Santa Barbara, California in 2015 her passion for painting re-emerged, reinforced by photography she was exploring at the time. She realized the two married well, and started experimenting with composition and light. To further improve her skills and tailor her own artistic approach, she has also been taking classes from prominent contemporary watercolor artists, such as Ilya Ibryaev, Sergei Kurbatov, Konstantin Sterkhov, and Yuko Nagayama.

Her primary subjects include landscapes, architecture, daily scenes and still life. However, what she is seeking to capture is beyond trivial - fleeting, transient, volatile - emotions that help us shape the worlds outside, and the worlds themselves, in their turn, echoing in us.

"I have no intention to force my imagery upon a viewer, or render the scene precisely. I am a chaser hoping to stumble onto recognition of that afternoon light one experienced a long time ago, and of the foggy morning when nature was just awakening to our discovery, and of the flower passing its life stages more briskly than us, and of the thought of a loved one, and of the feelings that connect us".

To learn more about Olga and her artwork, email her at olga.bologo@gmail.com.