Natalia Chernogolova

I was born in 1954 in the small town of Zhitkovichi in the former Soviet Union. In 1976 I graduated from Art High School in Minsk and then studied at the Pedagogical Institute in Vitebsk - home town of the famous Marc Chagal.

In 1989 I was elected to the USSR Union of Artists, undertaking various official commissions.
As required by the state, I started my career as a socialist realist, but my style evolved . Now , after hundreds of paintings, I paint without preliminary sketches or drawings. I frequently lay aside my brushes in favour of my hands. 'Hands are much more expressive,' I think and they give me more power to express myself-- they give me a better touch'
I work in the small towns in Poland as a performing artist en plein air. My style involves inviting any willing member of the public to be painted in oil.I don't seek their approval of the finished portrait, indeed if the person dislikes my work, I will say, "Oh, well, I shall turn you into an apple". In front of the bemused crowd, I will transform the face into an apple". People laugh, applaud, some are outraged, but everyone is engaged.

I don't like to give titles to my abstract paintings, as I don't want to impose my opinion of what I painted ...

1976-2006 - Brest
Minsk - Belarus
1988 - Gurzoof, Crimea
1989 - Minsk, Brest
1990 - Minsk, Grodno in Belarus
1991 - Nałęczw
1992 - Nałęczw, Katowice, Puławy,Gołąb, Ostrowiec Św., Biała Podlaska--Poland
1993 - Zakopane, Krynica, Nałęczw--Poland
1994 - Nałęczw in Poland
1995 - Brest in Belarus
1996 - Zakopane
1997 - Brest, Minsk
1998 - Brest, Minsk
1999 - Siedlce
2000 - Puławy
2001 - Biała Podlaska
2002 - Puławy
2005 - Brest Belarus
2005 - www.galeriaandre.com - private collection,