My work explores fragility and vulnerability through the traditions of various cultures, seeking to uncover the ever-shifting nature of collectivity—where it originates and what contexts it can assume. Engaging with archaic forms of community through the lens of vulnerability becomes a way to forge a new type of hybrid collective, one capable of responding to contemporary reality by transforming alongside it.
The core of my method lies in identifying liminal states, which I then capture in the objects I create.
My engagement with other cultures allows me to expand my perception of reality, to look at it from different perspectives, and to reveal possible points of convergence where distinct cultural paradigms meet. This process shapes my own model of searching for identity and for a place within society. Operating within a world of networked structures, my practice brings together a symbiosis of traditional and digital art.
My artistic approach combines the discipline of classical icon painting with a contemporary visual language. Throughout my projects, I create artifacts that evoke a transcultural aesthetic—recurring elements found across different cultures that share similar functions. Color serves as a crucial formal and compositional tool. Through symbolically charged artifacts, deliberate color choices, and specific themes, I construct a narrative, its characters, and the action itself.
The core of my method lies in identifying liminal states, which I then capture in the objects I create.
My engagement with other cultures allows me to expand my perception of reality, to look at it from different perspectives, and to reveal possible points of convergence where distinct cultural paradigms meet. This process shapes my own model of searching for identity and for a place within society. Operating within a world of networked structures, my practice brings together a symbiosis of traditional and digital art.
My artistic approach combines the discipline of classical icon painting with a contemporary visual language. Throughout my projects, I create artifacts that evoke a transcultural aesthetic—recurring elements found across different cultures that share similar functions. Color serves as a crucial formal and compositional tool. Through symbolically charged artifacts, deliberate color choices, and specific themes, I construct a narrative, its characters, and the action itself.
Artist Statement
2024/2025 — Tsvetnik School, Moscow
2022 — Process School of Contemporary Art, Departments: Video Art, Contemporary Painting, Moscow
2019 — Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture by Ilya Glazunov, Moscow
2015 — Moscow Region State University, Faculty of Fine Arts and Folk Crafts, Specialization: Icon Painting (BA/MA), Moscow
2022 — Process School of Contemporary Art, Departments: Video Art, Contemporary Painting, Moscow
2019 — Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture by Ilya Glazunov, Moscow
2015 — Moscow Region State University, Faculty of Fine Arts and Folk Crafts, Specialization: Icon Painting (BA/MA), Moscow
Education
2022—present — Resident, 22 Gallery / Artist-Run Space, Moscow
Artistic Residencies
Personal Exhibitions
2025 — Once Upon a Time: The School of the Russian Fairy Tale, Winzavod, Moscow
2025 — The Changing Shape of Womanhood, Galerie de Lest, France
2024 — New Names, Museum of Nonconformist Art, St. Petersburg
2024 — New Symbolism, Museum of Modern Art, Samara
2024 — Dimension, Elokhovskaya Gallery, Moscow
2024 — Vivid, in collaboration with Haze Gallery, A53 Gallery, Moscow
2024 — Reflection, Vysota Gallery, Moscow
2024 — 12 Views, Twelve Reasons Hotel, Moscow
2023 — One, Two, Three, Four, Five, I’m Coming to Find You, Container Hall, Murmansk
2023 — Who is Ophelia, Galerie Eulengasse, Germany
2023 — Hum, Artmosphera Street Art Biennale, Winzavod, Moscow
2023 — Humanity Without Man, Abramova Gallery, St. Petersburg
2023 — The Curve of Forgetting, Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2022 — Traveler’s Mood, Damirova Gallery, Moscow
2022 — Timeless Art, Cube Gallery, Moscow
2022 — Girls, Girls, Girls, Vladey Gallery, Moscow
2022 — a-s-t-r-a Open. Vol 1, a-s-t-r-a Gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
2022 — From a Bird’s Eye View, Archstoyanie Festival, Nikola-Lenivets Art Park
2021 — Quarantine, Kabood Atelier Art Gallery, Tabriz, Iran
2025 — The Changing Shape of Womanhood, Galerie de Lest, France
2024 — New Names, Museum of Nonconformist Art, St. Petersburg
2024 — New Symbolism, Museum of Modern Art, Samara
2024 — Dimension, Elokhovskaya Gallery, Moscow
2024 — Vivid, in collaboration with Haze Gallery, A53 Gallery, Moscow
2024 — Reflection, Vysota Gallery, Moscow
2024 — 12 Views, Twelve Reasons Hotel, Moscow
2023 — One, Two, Three, Four, Five, I’m Coming to Find You, Container Hall, Murmansk
2023 — Who is Ophelia, Galerie Eulengasse, Germany
2023 — Hum, Artmosphera Street Art Biennale, Winzavod, Moscow
2023 — Humanity Without Man, Abramova Gallery, St. Petersburg
2023 — The Curve of Forgetting, Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2022 — Traveler’s Mood, Damirova Gallery, Moscow
2022 — Timeless Art, Cube Gallery, Moscow
2022 — Girls, Girls, Girls, Vladey Gallery, Moscow
2022 — a-s-t-r-a Open. Vol 1, a-s-t-r-a Gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
2022 — From a Bird’s Eye View, Archstoyanie Festival, Nikola-Lenivets Art Park
2021 — Quarantine, Kabood Atelier Art Gallery, Tabriz, Iran
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 — Catalog Contemporary Art Fair, Moscow
2024 — Catalog Contemporary Art Fair, Moscow
2024 — ArtMoscow Contemporary Art Fair, Moscow
2024 — Catalog Contemporary Art Fair, Moscow
2024 — ArtMoscow Contemporary Art Fair, Moscow
Art Fairs
2025 — The Eternal Return to the Lost Paradise, interview for ST. ART
2024 — Interview with the artist: Olga Aksenova, interview for Cube
2022 — Olga Axenova's work synthesizes the traditions of the icon painting school and modern trends in network art, an article for the Abramova gallery channel
2022 — The Mythical tribe of Olga Axenova, article for the Abramova gallery channel канала Abramova gallery
2024 — Interview with the artist: Olga Aksenova, interview for Cube
2022 — Olga Axenova's work synthesizes the traditions of the icon painting school and modern trends in network art, an article for the Abramova gallery channel
2022 — The Mythical tribe of Olga Axenova, article for the Abramova gallery channel канала Abramova gallery
Place of birth: Moscow region
Lives and works in Moscow
Lives and works in Moscow
Press
