Olga Chernysheva
Olga Chernysheva was born in 1962 in Moscow. She grew up in Moscow and in Damascus, Syria, and trained to become a maker of animated films at Moscow’s Institute of Cinematography (formerly the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography). She also studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Animation, as a way of bringing everything around us to life, has remained an important principle in her work, as has the metaphorical visual language of classic Soviet filmmakers such as Alexander Dovzhenko and Sergei Eisenstein. Chernysheva also relates to other movements in art history. Her work in different media – including drawing, painting, photography, video and very short essays combined with still or moving images – is based on close observation of the reality around her. It continues a long tradition of social realism in Russian culture (very different from the Socialist Realism that was the official artistic doctrine of the USSR) and of art as a vehicle for critical and compassionate narrative (which can also be formally bold and experimental). Her approach to art and life is both formally sophisticated and subtly humorous. One of her sources of inspiration (and the topic for her diploma work at the film academy) is the work of the military officer and painter Pavel Fedotov (1815–1852), who has been called ‘the Russian Hogarth’.
Chernysheva's recent solo exhibitions include “Houseplant is leaving”, Volker Diehl Gallery, Berlin (2024); “Being Daphne”, Foxy Production, New York (2023); "Grids@Rips" FOKSAL Foundation (2020); "Autoradio", Foxy Production, New York (2018); “Ordered Equivocations”, Kohta, Helsinki (2018); “Chandeliers in the Forest”, Secession, Vienna (2017–2018); “Algunas Canciones Lindas”, curated by Anders Kreuger, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2017); “Cactus Seller and Others”, DIEHL, Berlin (2017); “Vague Accent”, curated by Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York (2016); “Keeping Sight”, Muhka, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp; Pace Gallery, London (2014–2015).
Chernysheva represented Russia at the Venice Biennale in 2001, and participated in the 57th Venice Biennale, curated by Okwui Enwezor, in 2015. Her works have been shown in numerous group exhibitions including “Workers”, Tate Modern, London (2019); “Wild Flowers (wildness is contextual!) – Volume II (grow flowers!)”, curated by Carlos Noronha Feio, Galerie Iragui, Moscow (2018); “Revolution Every Day”, Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago; “The Travellers: Voyage and Migration in New Art from Central and Eastern Europe”, curated by Magdalena Moskalewicz, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn (2017); Manifesta 11, “What People do for Money: Some Joint Ventures”, Zurich; “The Travellers”, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2016). In 2013 and 2014, she taught at the Salzburg International Summer Academy.
Selected works
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Sklifosovsky Crows, diptych
oil, canvas 70×90cm 2020



12 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 39×59cm 2011


15 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 59×40cm 2004


19 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 35×60cm 2011


23 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 29×43cm 2011


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 120×90cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 120×90cm 2013


10 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 39×59cm 2012


28 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
color analog print 70×47cm 2007


27 from series Algunas Canciones Lindas
barite analog print 45×30cm 1996


Satellite
Oil on linen 100×50cm 2021


Sweets (Yellow)
oil, canvas 100×100cm 2021


Sweets (With Polar Bear)
oil, canvas 40×40cm 2021


Flashing
oil, canvas 60×30cm 2021


Likhoborka
oil, linen 80×60cm 2022


Flies
Gouache on paper 84×60cm 2022


Daphne
Watercolor and charcoal on paper 48×36cm 2022


Daphne
Watercolor and charcoal on paper 48×36cm 2022


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 120×90cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Untitled. Dedicated to Senga
video 2008


Trashman
video 2011


The Train
video 2003


Steamboat Dionysius
video 2004


Seven Exercises
video 2004


Russian Museum
video 2003 - 2005


Marmot
video 1999


March
video 2005


White Lines - on the Ground, Dark Lines - in the Sky
video 2012


From series Cactus Seller
optical b/w print 62×93cm 2009


From series Cactus Seller
optical b/w print 62×93cm 2009


Domestication
c-print 90×135cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×135cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


Domestication
c-print 90×120cm 2013


From series Cactus Seller
optical b/w print 62×93cm 2009


From series Cactus Seller
optical b/w print 62×93cm 2009


From series Cactus Seller
optical b/w print 62×93cm 2009


Festive Dream
video 2005
