Olga Antonova
ARTIST STATEMENT
"For me, it's not about the subject matter at all," says Antonova. "Subject matter is just a pretext for my execution and sensitivity to technical issues. I'm getting closer to the divine harmony, closer to divinity, but not quite yet. That is what is great about painting - just when you think you are getting there, the point of achievement moves away. But, I want to catch that moment of solitude, that quiet harmony that people can relate to. That's what I'm after."
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
BORN 1956, Volgograd, Russia
Based on an admiration for precision, Olga Antonova’s still-life paintings narrate exacting color reflections and light distortions but sing due to their nuance and subtle humor. In her work, arbitrary arrangements of old-fashioned objects echo refined society and social practices while serving, as Olga indicates, “…a pretext for my execution and sensitivity to technical issues.” Incidentally perhaps, they also suggest a range of curious, personified interactions and identities.
The relationship among Olga’s subjects is an aspect to consider as much as each item’s precise details, reflections, cracks, and tarnish. At times, couples of demitasse cups co-exist as a pair, reflecting with an attention to symmetry, their patterned surroundings. Outrageous groups of precariously stacked tea cups indicate a tenuous balance of interdependency, much like the multitude of social relationships we daily juggle. Or, a lone cup sits on its side, surrounded by patterned cloth, capturing one of Olga’s goals: “to catch that moment of solitude, that quiet harmony that people can relate to.”
Olga distinctly employs an extreme range of thick to thin paint, relying upon the physicality of the painted color to convince you of reflections. Gail Leggio remarks on Olga’s technique in the American Arts Quarterly, “….she [also] considers the conceptual underpinnings of her craft, the complex relationship between mimetic, illusionistic image and stained, two-dimensional fabric. Antonova seems aware of that double nature: art that shows us a reflection of the outside world while insisting on its own physical properties and formal logic.” Sharp, thick, curved blotches of lemon-yellow are as impactful as bright reflected light, while somber, neutral, thinly painted backgrounds, softly recede and fade from notice.
Olga paints special and pretty chinaware that mesmerize you with their fancy detail. These cups, plates, and bowls encourage one to want to show them off and display them, separate from human contact, as they are intended to be more observed than used.
Her work is included in many private collections and also in the slide library of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and in the print collection of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University. She has exhibited widely throughout the United States, including exhibitions at the Fine Art Museum in IN, the Downey Museum in CA, and the Tufts University Museum in MA as well as in Germany at the Museum Stadt Hanau and in France. Olga Antonova has her MFA from the Repin Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia and resides in the Boston area.
EDUCATION
1980 MFA, Repin Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia,
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Selby Fleetwood Gallery, SFe, NM 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2003
Santa Fe Art Fair with Beth Urdang Gallery, 2008
Gallery Henoch, New York, NY, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 1999, 1996, 1995, 1993, 1992, 1990, 1988
Santa Monica Art Fair with Gallery Henoch, 2007
Galerie Marie-Claude Goinard, Paris, France, 2005
Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA, 1994 to 2005
Chicago Art Fair with Gallery Henoch, Chicago, 2005
Haynes George Gallery, Charlotte, NC, 2005
Soprafina Gallery, Somerville, MA, 2003
Philadelphia Art Fair with Gallery Henoch, Philadelphia, 2003
NAO Project Gallery, Boston, MA, 2002
J. Cacciola Galleries, Bedminster, NJ, 2002
Remisengalerie, Museum Stadt Hanau, Hanau, Germany, 2001
Casa Vieja Gallery, Vieques, Puerto Rico, 2000
Kunsthalle, Jammeln, Germany, 1999
Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, MA, 1999
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1998
Liliane André Gallery, Basel, Switzerland, 1997
Frankfurt Art Fair with Ulrich Gering Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany, 1997, 1996, 1994
Marita Gilliam Gallery, Raleigh, NC, 1997, 1996
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany, 1996
City Hall Gallery, Wesseling, Germany, 1996
Gallery K.G. Schäfer, Giessen, Germany, 1996
Galerie Espace Suisse, Strasbourg, France, 1995
"Art Zurich" with Ulrich Gering Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 1995
Woodstock Guild and K&E Gallery, Woodstock, NY, 1995
"Art Miami" with Gallery Henoch, Miami, FL, 1995
Ulrich Gering Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany, 1995, 1994
"Art Cologne" with Ulrich Gering Gallery, Cologne, Germany, 1994, 1993
Fine Art Museum, South Bend, IN, 1994
Martha Tepper Fine Arts, Boston, MA, 1994, 1993
University of Rhode Island, RI, 1994
Fine Arts Museum, South Bend, IN, 1994
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1993
Galerie Caroline Corre, Paris, France, 1993
Galerie Nicole Buck, Strasbourg, France, 1993 1992
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1992
Untitled Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1991
Hopkins Gallery, Wellfleet, MA,1991
Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 1991
Gallery Naga, Boston, MA, 1991
Tatistcheff Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 1991
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, 1990
Woman's College, Lynchburg, VA, 1990
Anca Colbert Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA, 1989
David Zapf Gallery, San Diego, CA, 1989
Downey Museum, Downey, CA, 1988
Akin Gallery, Boston, MA, 1988
Center place Galleries, Bangor, ME, 1988
David Williams Gallery, Provincetown, MA, 1988
Gallery 52, Boston, MA, 1987, 1984
79th. Annual Exhibition, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon
Multicultural Center for the Arts, Cambridge, MA, 1987
Gallery Capricorn, Bethesda, MD, 1987
Tufts University, Medford, MA, 1987
Francesca Anderson Gallery, Boston, MA, 1986-1988
AWARDS
Selected in the Tenth Juried Exhibition Competition, Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, MA, 1999
Included in Print Collection of Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, NJ, 1992
Included in Slide Library of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1990
Artists Fellowship in Visual Art, California Art Council, Sacramento, 1989-90
Invited Speaker at Woman's Building, Los Angeles, 1989
Participant in the slide screening "Boston Collects", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1987
PUBLICATIONS
American Arts:Quarterly, "Singing Shapes: Still-Life Paintings in the Galleries" by Gail Leggio, Fall 2007
Univers des Arts, "du côté de chez Olga..." by C. Bailleul, May 2005
Dernières Nouvelles d´Alsace, "Allemands et Français pour une mâme exposition", October 7, 2004, October 3, 2004, "Sept plasticiens à l´usine", May 11, 1997, "Objets à Usage Artistique" by Julie Carpentier, January 5, 1996, "Portes ouvertes sur les ateliers d'artistes" by Corinne Ibram, June 28, 1992
Art News, review by Maria Schneider, May 2004
Boston Globe, "Cups Runneth Over" by Cate McQuaid, January 2, 2004, "A Summer Smorgasbord of Styles" by Nancy Stapen, July 11, 1991, "Subjects Captured in Network of Supple Lines" by Christine Temin, March 12,1987, "Critic's Tip" by Robert Taylor, 1984
Boston Herald, "the Edge Picks" by Joanne Silver, December 12, 2003
"Olga Antonova à l´Espace Sofitel" by S.H., April 24, 1997
Gissener Allgemeine, "Teekannen & Wasserkessel", April 25, 1996
Frankfurter Rundschau, "Kessel und Kannen" by D. Baer-Bogenschütz, September , 1995
L'Alsace, September, 1995
Provincetown Magazine, "Portrait of an artist: Olga Antonova" by John P. Schutz, August 4, 1994
The Villager, by Sascha Brodsky, December 1, 1993
Novoye Russkoye Slova, by Natalia Kozlova, December 1993.
Art Scene, Los Angeles, "Continuing & Up Coming," Editorial, July 1991, "Continuing & Up Coming," Editorial, November 1989
Bay Windows, "Pillows & Paterns," March 12, 1987.
Newton Graphic, "Women's Art on View" by Meredith Fife Day, February 12, 1987
North End Tribune, 1986
Portsmouth Herald, "Two Diverse Styles of Still Life Adorn Walls of Gallery" by Susan Bailey, November 17, 1985
Obozrenie, "A Rose is a Rose is a Garlic" by Paul Stephen , 1985
Boston Phoenix, 1984
Print Publishing
Series of Monotypes published by Martha Tepper Contemporary Fine
Arts and Fox Graphics, printed at Fox Graphics, Merrimac, MA.
COLLECTIONS
Billy Wilder
Brown, Rudnik, Freed & Gesmer
Cooper & Lybrand
Fidelity Investments
George Henoch Shechtman
Marriott Hotels
Mass Bank for Savings
Putnam Investments
Vinson & Elkins
Eleonora Berlusconi
