Olga Pastekova

*1984
lives and works in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria)


In my work I follow ecological and environmental problems, focusing on relationships between man, animals and nature.
I like search new ways and techniques, crossing borders of traditional medium. When I started painting, I was using less traditional surfaces – brown paper, damaged doors from dumps, later on it was hardboard and canvas. The media I used included asphalt, oil, acrylic paint, ink, scratching, pencil (destruction). I experiment with contrasting materials by blending a variety techniques. I work on wood by painting, carving and scorching (Fire Painting).
The topics of my paintings are actually variations on the internal feeling of a human being, an individual, a creature in the dehumanised urban environment. They’re sketches of situations, scenes, thoughts, yet they’re not expressed in a straightforward manner, but on a sort of second level. Essentially, I’m a figuralist painter. My works always include certain beings, creatures, animals or their shadows. More or less concrete, sometimes only suspected. The world of phantoms and myths is more real than reality.
I love myths, legends, fairy tales, and watch how they evolve from the time I was...

2007 – 2009 Master studium Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, studio of prof. Ivan Csudai
2008 Study visit in Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien (Austria), studio of prof. Daniel Richter
2003 – 2006 Bachelors studium AFAD Bratislava, studios of prof. Daniel Fischer and prof. Vladimír Popovič
1999 – 2003 Josef Vydra School of Applied Arts in Bratislava

Exhibitions (selected)

2022 - Human Animal II., Gallery of Spiš Artists , Spišská Nová Ves (SK)
2021 - Collection 21, Galerie Michael Bella, Wien (A)
2021 - Urban Beast, Slovak Institute in Prague (CZ)
2020 - XX Art Flanerie - Salon, Dessous, Wien (A)
2020 - Remapping the Future II., Kunsthaus 7B, Michelsberg, (RO)
2020 - ArtRooms Moravany, manor house Moravany, Moravany nad Váhom (SK)
2020 - Remapping the Future, Art 9teen, Wien (A)
2020 - Riders, Zoya Museum, Modra (SK)
2020 - Of Streets and Monsters, OKNA - Espaço Cultural, Porto (P)
2020 - a bird named kafka, Botschaft der Slowakischen Republik, Berlin (DE)
2018 - A Look From the Bridge: Contemporary Slovak Artists, Luciano Benetton Collection,
Salone degli Incanti, Trieste (IT)
2018 - DOLORES - The Goat, that said in a dream one day, I will tell stories with colour.,
Kunst Raum Villach (AT)
2018 - PLUS - MINUS, Gallery Liberec (CZ)
2018 - More than 30..., Zoya Museum, Modra (SK)
2018 - In den gläsernen Käfigen, Slowakisches Institut Wien (A)
2017 - 23 ATELIERS, Wir sind Wien.festival, 19.bezirk, Wien (A)
2017 - Das Bessere Leben @Kreativenplattform, Künstlerhaus, Wien (A)
2017 - In den gläsernen Käfigen, Österreichisches Kulturforum Bratislava
2016 - Cro...