We were lucky to catch up with Olya Dubatova recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Olya , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I started painting as a child, like many others. At eight, I discovered a local art school for kids and was captivated. The teacher, a passionate landscape painter dedicated to teaching, made all the difference. He was present, attentive, and introduced us to oil painting, Greek mythology, and art history, with a special focus on Russian realist painters. Growing up in a small town in southern Russia (then part of the Soviet Union), finding such a mentor felt like incredible luck. I started to paint with oils right away, and the memory of the winter classroom, filled with the distinct smell of oil and turpentine, remains vivid to this day. I believe I even had my first catalog and exhibition at 11, though I can’t be certain. Painting somehow always felt serious. When the time came to choose a career path, I didn’t pursue art school. The only art department near me trained teachers for middle schools, and the notion of becoming a professional artist never crossed my mind. It was the early 2000s, a turbulent period after the Soviet collapse, and finding my footing in a provincial town felt daunting. However, a master’s degree opportunity in Switzerland opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities of career choices. But only when I moved to Italy – being an artist started to feel like a possibility. Art became an escape, an outlet for all the emotions I carried within. Perhaps it was my childhood training, but returning to painting felt natural.
The following years were a whirlwind. I moved frequently – Switzerland, France, Germany, back to Russia, and finally Thailand. By 24, I felt like a complete failure, so I moved to Rome, I started painting again. An exhibition offer, a curator, and an introduction to the Roman art scene followed. That was the kind of world I was interested in, the world of painters and artists, it really gave me purpose in life, even still when I wake up and I am an artist – it makes me feel in harmony with the world.
I had a studio for several years in Rome, but then I wanted to move to America and explore the world and experiment with other mediums (video and sound installation mostly), so I took a break from painting for several years. I am pleased that I had that space to experiment, returning to painting with a very different perspective after.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a painter, currently based in Los Angeles, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Yucatan, Mexico. I am very interested in the multifaceted concept of home, not as a singular point on a map, but as a dynamic mosaic. A metaphorical search for a home. My practice is deeply rooted in the immediate landscapes I inhabit. This past year, I lived and worked between Western rural Georgia and the Mayan jungle of Mexico. Both regions, with their unique cultural and ecological narratives, have profoundly shaped my understanding of home.
Ultimately, my goal is not to arrive at a definitive answer to the question of “home,” but rather to embrace and explore the complexities and nuances within this ongoing search. By translating my experiences onto the canvas, I am interested in the multifaceted nature of displacement and the human yearning for belonging.
Currently, I am preparing for an exhibition in Mexico City, called “Homeostasis” that will open on February 8 2024.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
One of the most important things for me was to learn that painting as a medium requires a lot of training and knowledge, it takes time to be comfortable with it and as soon as you are comfortable usually there is something else you realize you need to learn. The most important thing for me is to never stop learning. It’s actually one of the reasons why I love being a painter I feel like you can never reach “the end”. Something else that was very impactful for me is my community, especially at the beginning, other artists gave me the permission to be how I wanted to be and to feel a sense of belonging. Books, too, were like friends, especially writings by other artists.
Also, I learned I need to be in a state of wonder and to work on several paintings at the same time, that’s the only way I can allow the image to develop on its own time. This gives them time to breathe, to surprise me with solutions.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I feel overwhelmed quite often, especially when I have to start a new body of work or when I get overstimulated with events and people. So for me the answer is always to get into painting, just starting a lot of paintings very quickly without too much thought helps me to get involved in the process.
Two years ago, I met a samurai in the Mexican jungle (don’t ask!), who taught me about energy balance. For me, overwhelm is an overactive brain disconnected from my body. That’s why painting, especially on large canvases where my whole body gets involved, is my sanctuary. It’s visceral, material, a dance almost. I also love music and dance, any kind of moving meditation, are my grounding rituals. They channel the energy down, out of my head and into my feet, reminding me of the earth beneath me. To me, a good painting feels like it enters my body, I feel it with my skin, it’s about the physical feeling, not intellectual and that is very grounding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://olyadubatova.me/
- Instagram: @olya.dubatova
Image Credits
Paola Garrido
