Olga Marie Polunin
Title: The Buddha Within Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 120 x 150 cm
Title: Tiger Nest Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 124 x 111 cm
Title: Madonna with Gold Fish and Cat Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Baby Lama - Harmony Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Baby Lama - Happiness Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Baby Lama - Silence (for the Charity) Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Baby Lama - Peace Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Lady with Shawl Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: The Sausage Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 175 x 80 cm
Title: Lady with Lace Shawl Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Lady with Candle Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Year of the Rat Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 x 60 cm
Title: The magician Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Year of the Monkey Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 x 60 cm
Title: Year of the Rooster Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 x 60 cm
Title: Fragrant Beauty Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 60 x 90 cm
Title: Through the looking glass Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Metamorphosis Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: The Lotus Eater Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Siamese Cat Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 35 x 45 cm
Title: Lady with White Pigeon Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 45 x 55 cm
Title: Frowning Madonna Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 80 x 100 cm
Title: Madonna and 2 children Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 70 x 90 cm
Title: Milky Way Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 x 60 cm
Title: Moonlight Dreamer Artist: Olga Marie Polunin Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 60 x 80 cm
Olga Marie Polunin Olga is of Russian-English and Hakka Chinese descent living in Belgium. Her paintings are inspired by the early religious works of both Europe and Asia, highlighting the creative and uplifting aspects of feminine humanity. There is humour and wit, sensuality and spirituality. “I love paintings... and not just my own.That a composition of pigments from a tube can speak to us in a deep and meaningful way is for me some kind of miracle. Each painting that I make is like an emotion that is crystallised, to be freed when a viewer looks upon it and feels what I put in. I wish that my paintings bring joy and put smiles on the faces of those who look upon them, this is my intention. Perhaps it is some thought put into meaning, but most important for me is for the work to give emotion. If this happens, then I have achieved my purpose.� Some thoughts... It is through living and observing, this necessary period of gestation, that I have arrived at this point of artistic creation. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so, the important body of my work started flowing following the birth of my two children. It seems that for me I needed the experience of motherhood to mature my vision. In painting women, a subject which by nature includes children, I explore the idea of the two poles of humanity, spirit and flesh. For me the madonna image symbolises the closest we can physically come to being as god, through the creation of a new life, yet this divine creation is through a physical act. A human being is both god and beast, of heaven and earth, the mystery that has puzzled and inspired us all since the beginning of time. There is nothing more natural than this fusion of body and soul, it is only our perceptions that are distorted. If we have been born with both these aspects, it is for us to find a way to live with them in harmony and balance. My poems are the auras of the paintings, story-telling inspired by the images. Through my work, I try to reconcile spirit and flesh, to portray their essential purity and innocence. Pigments and brushes, contrasts in ideas and colours, used to express the paradox that is the seed of our hearts.
All About Eve I am asked many times why I paint women. I have asked myself many times t he same question. The most obvious answer is...I am a woman. It is the lens through which I view and digest the myriad reflections of life. As we all know, duality is everywhere, hot and cold, joy and sorrow, yin and yang. Indeed we are ourselves a fundamental dichotomy of spirit and flesh, and it is a delicate path that we tread trying to balance the needs of both in harmony. With my painting I wish to focus on the more uplifting facets of life - tenderness, joy, creation, love, humour and playfulness. We all crave love and acceptance, to live in peace and harmony. If we have not achieved this today it is perhaps because we focus too much on our differences and not enough on the similarities that unite us. We are all different but we are also all the same... I am particularly attracted to little babies, with their air of innocence and purity, having come so recently from the world of Spirit. Women also fascinate me, their qualities of gentleness with quiet strength, their versatility in holding the family together, being both mother and lover. It is the nature of women to be gentle yet resourceful, nurturing and creative. And it is in our children that the future of the world lies. I paint women and children, to show the continuity of life, the future and the past, and of course the present. For myself, the greatest love that I have ever known, is the love that I have for my children and the love that I share with my own mother and grand-mother, this chain of blood and flesh which reaches back through the mists of time. My children symbolise for me the joy and infinite promise of the future. It is a love that is completely unconditional...a love that unites parents everywhere, and it is that love that should overcome the need to conquer and destroy. A Mother would not send her child so readily to war... For me there is no distinction between my work and my life, both are intertwined in everything I do. Be it time spent with my family or a fleeting glimpse of a stranger’s face in the street, a mother with her child...it is the simple moments of life that inspire me. I work in several different mediums, but primarily oil on canvas and ink and gouache. Each painting is for me like a crystallised emotion or feeling. I work with many thin coats of colour to achieve the highly glossy and luminous quality in the paintings. Some of my works take several months or even years to finish, the smaller ones about three weeks. I put a lot of my heart into the work, I would like that my paintings bring joy to people...to act like a mirror, that they recognise some aspect of themselves and reflect on the moments that bring them the greatest joy and satisfaction. Recently I illustrated my first children’s book, which was a really enriching and fulfilling experience. It was something completely new for me but I was very happy with the outcome of the book and the reception it received from a completely new and much younger audience. I was happy in 2013, to donate all the proceeds from the sale of these paintings to the Assissi Hospice Charity. I wish to explore the world as a dreamlike landscape coloured by emotions, transcending both time and space, to express the highest manifestations of our being. About the Artist Born in 1963, Olga Marie Polunin is a Singaporean painter living in Belgium. She is of Russian - English and Hakka Chinese descent. Her paternal grand-parents, Vladimir and Violet Polunin were both respected artists of the 20th century, friends and colleagues of Diaghilev, Matisse, Picasso, Bakst..... Olga’s paintings are inclined towards a positive interpretation of life, highlighting the creative and uplifting aspects of humanity. She explores her Asian roots through images of the feminine form. Chinese influences are evident in her series of nudes. She paints in both oil and gouache. Following the birth of her children, she expanded her study to include the sacred yet playful bond between mother and child, the Madonna theme being a recurrent one in her work. She is completely self-taught, inspired by the early religious works of both Europe and Asia. Her paintings have a poetic simplicity as they deal with personal yet universal themes. There is humour and wit, sensuality and spirituality. She has given numerous art and creativity workshops notably with the Singapore University Art Museum, and also with the Singapore Lifeskills and Lifestyles Department of the Singapore Community Club Association where she has given Master classes for both children’s Art teachers as well as for children. She has also Illustrated a children’s story book, “The Littlest Emperor” published by Tuttle Publishers.
Exhibitions: October 1997 - Solo exhibition at Gallery Rabier, Brussels, Belgium. April 1998 - Work shown at Holly Solomon, New York. February 1999 - Solo exhibition at Professor Arthur Lim Gallery, Singapore. October 1999 - Solo exhibition at Locus-Media, New York. November 1999 - Group show, Idiz Bogam Art, Brussels, Belgium. May 2000 - Double show at Kingdom Fine Arts Boston. June 2000 - Group show at Locus-Media New York. July 2000 - Solo show at Gajah Gallery, Singapore. September 2000 - Asian Contemporary Art Fair with Gajah Gallery, Singapore. October 2000 - Group show, “Images of Women VI” at Schoeni Gallery, Hong Kong. March 2001 - “Six femmes-six cultures” (six women-six cultures) Espace Senghor Cultural Centre, Belgium. September 2001 - Asian Contemporary Art Fair with Gajah Gallery, Singapore. October 2001 - Group show, “Images of Women VII” at Schoeni Gallery, Hong Kong. February - March 2002 - “Spirited Faces” TV documentary series on Asian Women artists with Arts Central and following group show at Belvedere Gallery at MITA, Singapore. December 6th 2002 - “YIN” Solo exhibition, at Wild Gallery, Brussels Belgium. February 8th 2003 - Group show, pledge of 13 paintings by Prof Arthur Lim to NUS Art Museum Singapore “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil” by Olga Polunin in collection of NUS Museums. February 22nd 2003 - Group show-grand opening of TAKSU Jakarta, Indonesia. November 29th 2003 - Group show TAKSU Singapore. April 2004 - Group show TAKSU, Art Fair Singapore. May 2004 - Invited artist for Open Deur Daj Atelier, Hoeilaart, Belgium. November 29th 2004 - Group Show TAKSU, Singapore. July 22nd 2005 - Interface-Group Exhibition, TAKSU Singapore. March 4th 2005 - Group Show at Vasco and Co, Sablon, Brussels, Belgium. January 7th 2005 - Group Exhibition, Langkawi Inaugural Show, TAKSU Langkawi, Malaysia. November 24th 2005 - Group Exhibition, TAKSU Jakarta, Indonesia. January 26th 2006 - Group Exhibition, TAKSU Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. May 26th 2006 - Peninsula and Island-Group Show TAKSU, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. August 2006 - “Art of Giving” Connoisseur Artwork Fund-raising project, Singapore. June 3rd - July 28th 2007 - “Spirit & Flesh” Solo Exhibition, Vasco and Co., BRUNEAF International Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium. August 2007 - Group Exhibition at Opera Gallery, Singapore. January 26th 2008 - Solo Lotus Arts de Vivre 25th Anniversary, Sukhothai Hotel Bangkok, Thailand. February 23rd 2008 - Solo Exhibition Kamalaya Yoga Resort, Koh Samui, Thailand. July 23rd 2008 - Solo Exhibition at Bed Supper Club, Lotus Arts de Vivre, Bangkok, Thailand. November 8th 2009 - Feb 2009-“Brussels Calling”, Museum Tongerlohuys, Rosenthal Holland. November 7th 2009 - “Painted Poems”, Solo show, Joel Cooner Gallery, Dallas Texas. February 24th 2010 - Lotus Arts de Vivre Group show, Bangkok, Thailand. May 4 - 29th August 2010 - Brussels Calling! Musee de Porte de Hal, Brussels, Belgium. March 8 - 10th 2010 - ‘The Art of Living’, St Regis Hotel, Lotus Arts de Vivre, Bangkok Thailand. April 28th - May 1st 2010- “Art on Paper” fair at White Hotel with Galerie Libertine, Brussels, Belgium. April 15 - 30th 2011 - “TWO”, Double show at Galerie Krisstel Martin, Singapore. February 9th 2012- “Il Etait Une Foix” Group Show, Galerie Libertine, Brussels Belgium. April 20th - May 2nd 2012 – Solo Show Art Beijing 2012, ClassicJen Gallery, Beijing, China. June 6 - 8th 2012 - Exhibition at Jacques How Choong Gallery BOA Art Fair, Sablon Brussels. June 6 - 8th 2012 – Group show at Vasco and Co BRUNEAF Art Fair, Sablon Brussels June 5 - 9th 2013 - Exhibition at Jacques How Choong Gallery BOA Art Fair, Sablon Brussels. June 5 - 9th 2013 - Solo show at Vasco and Co BRUNEAF Art Fair, Sablon Brussels September 29th 2013 - Charity auction for Assisi Hospice Singapore, raised $50 000 December 13th 2013 - Solo show, Lotus Arts de Vivre, Four Seasons Hotel, Bangkok Thailand.
Olga Marie Polunin
J.V.CONTROL LIMITED
41/21 Rama III Rd., Chongnonsee, Yannawa, Bangkok 10120 Thailand Tel: 66 (0) 2294 1821-3 Fax: 66 (0) 2683 2993 Email: PR@lotusartsdevivre.com www.lotusartsdevivre.com