Interview
Olha Svieshnikova
Olga Svieshnikova is a contemporary abstract artist born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and currently living and working in Utah, USA. Her work explores themes of inner transformation, emotional energy, and the unseen forces that shape both nature and human experience. Working with layered textures, movement, and intuitive processes, she creates compositions that balance tension and harmony. Her paintings develop through the interaction between gesture, material, and structure, allowing the process itself to guide the final form. Her work has been featured in media including ABC4 News (Utah). She is currently participating in international art competitions and exhibition projects, with upcoming exhibition opportunities in Lisbon and Los Angeles
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“Art has been part of my life since childhood. I was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, and drawing was always a natural way for me to express myself. I didn’t think of it as a career at first it was simply something I had been doing for as long as I can remember. Over time, especially in adulthood, painting became something deeper. I realized that when I paint, I enter a very personal inner space a place that is difficult to explain in words. It is a state where emotions, memories, and intuition begin to transform into color, movement, and form. My work grew from this internal dialogue. Rather than trying to illustrate specific images, I allow the process itself to guide the composition. Painting became a way of translating inner energy and emotional experience into a visual language. Today I continue to develop this practice, exploring abstraction as a space where intuition, material, and movement come together.”
What inspires you?
“I am inspired by inner states, emotions, and the invisible forces that shape our experience of the world. Many of my paintings begin with an intuitive impulse a feeling or movement that cannot always be explained in words. Painting allows me to enter a quiet internal space where intuition, memory, and energy begin to take visual form. Nature also plays an important role in my inspiration not in a literal sense, but through its rhythms, transformation, and constant movement. I am fascinated by how landscapes, geological layers, water currents, and cosmic structures reflect deeper processes of change and balance.For me, painting is a way of translating these invisible dynamics into color, texture, and movement.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“My work explores themes of inner transformation, emotional energy, and the invisible forces that shape both nature and human experience. I am interested in how movement, tension, and balance exist beneath the surface of things — whether in landscapes or within the inner states of a person.Through drawing, texture, and movement, I express change, resilience, and the quiet dynamics that continuously shape our lives.Rather than conveying a single fixed message, my works invite the viewer to experience their own emotional and intuitive response. Each painting becomes a space for personal interpretation and reflection.”
How would you describe your work?
“I would describe my work as intuitive contemporary abstraction. My paintings emerge through movement, layered textures, and the interaction between control and spontaneity. I allow the process itself to guide the composition. My works often balance tension and harmony.”
Which artists influence you most?
“While I admire many artists and the diversity of contemporary art, my work is not shaped by the influence of any single artist. My inspiration comes primarily from inner experience, intuition, and the processes connected to my inner state, as well as from the way each painting develops during the creative process. Rather than following a particular artistic tradition, I allow the process itself to guide the work.”
What is your creative process like?
“My creative process is largely intuitive and often connected to my inner state. I usually begin with a feeling, movement, or color that sets the initial direction of the work. Often the painting begins with an intention, but during the process it reveals its own direction. As the work develops through layers, textures, and movement, unexpected visual relationships begin to appear. For me, painting becomes a dialogue between intuition and structure, where each stage opens new possibilities for the final composition.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I believe the role of an artist is to create spaces for reflection and emotional connection. Art has the ability to express what is often difficult to explain through words inner states, tensions, and transformations that people experience in life.In a rapidly changing world, the role of the artist becomes even more important. Artists can offer new perspectives and invite viewers to slow down and reflect. Art does not only reflect the world; it helps us perceive and understand it in new ways”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My work has been featured in media, including ABC4 News in Utah. I am currently participating in several international art competitions and open calls, with a number of exhibitions and projects currently in development. Among upcoming events is an international exhibition scheduled in Lisbon in March 2026. I am also preparing for upcoming exhibition opportunities in Los Angeles, as well as additional projects in the United States and internationally.”
Instagram: @Olyanaart
Brush Bio: brush.bio/olyanaart
