NATALIA OSMOLOVSKAYA: A CITY DWELLER'S MAGIC

NATALIA OSMOLOVSKAYA is an artist who masterfully merges magical concepts with sentimental childhood memories to create compositions and scenarios that take viewers to places that are familiar yet fantastic.

From Adventures of Cosmonat, “Meeting a companion,” taken in a miniature room that poses as an artificial jungle at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.

Born in Moscow, Russia, her family moved to Canada and, as a 12-year-old, Natalia had no knowledge of English and no clue as to how she’d survive without her best friends from back home. Many years later, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Toronto, where her passion for photography and photo manipulation began. Natalia is self-taught. She persisted in her passion and quit her banking day job to become a full-time photo production specialist.

Now, Natalia’s skill set is used in her role as a post-production artist and photographer for an architectural visualization company based in Toronto. The studio works with architects to create 3D images of up-and-coming condominiums, public buildings, and city proposals. She creates visual stories in Adobe Photoshop that depict the mood of future neighbourhoods.

“Swimmers vs. Public Transit,” a swimming race along the subway tracks towards downtown Toronto.

I WANT TO BRING THE VIEWER INTO A NEW WORLD AND HELP THEM SEE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ORDINARY SCENARIOS AND MAGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

The images that Natalia posts online are personal creative explorations. She is inspired by fantasy movies such as the Harry Potter series, Interstellar, and The Martian. Clearly, her specialty lies in creating conceptual yet realistic imagery with a hint of magic. Natalia says, “The ideas behind my surrealistic images are connected to my yearning for my past, mixed with my present life. Being a sentimental person, I always find myself reliving memories from my childhood that have shaped me into the person I am today. A big part of those recollections comes from memories of family trips I took as a kid. Seeing the places I’ve travelled to as an adult always brings back a melancholy feeling. My overall vision is to create worlds you see as a child but often forget as you grow older.

“Confusing what is real,” inspired by a series of breathtaking waterfalls in Iceland.

Although my work does not depict the real world, it provides an outlet to express the beauty in the serious and nonstop lifestyle of an average city dweller.

www.natosmo.com