Olga Naumenko

Year of birth: 1979.
Education: Higher education in law.
What is your unique style? It lies in infusing my paintings with deep sacred meanings, conveying them through the language of abstraction, and in art therapy through painting. My unique style also involves the use of various shades of blue (a symbol of cosmic space) and the technique of artificially aging the paintings.
What is your specialization? I specialize in creating abstract textured paintings.
I’ve always had a strong desire to help people whose rights have been violated, to restore people to their rights, and children are the future of humanity—they have the right to a decent childhood. These thoughts found their expression in the charitable project I founded, ‘Asseya,’ which aims to support creative children and youth. By purchasing my paintings, the buyer participates in charity because part of the proceeds from the sale of the paintings is donated to children’s art schools.
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Could you please tell us more about your past and what led you to transition from a legal career to fully immersing yourself in painting?

My career in law was quite successful. Even as a student, I realized that law was my path, and I had made the right career choice because each subject fascinated me. General Theory of Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Administrative Law, Forensics, Investigation, Judiciary—these opened up a new world to me, and I enjoyed it and my involvement in it! The legal profession is full of discoveries due to the wide range of activities in different fields of law. I was passionate about it and fully immersed myself in the processes. I worked for 15 years in a wonderful, close-knit team of like-minded people, diligently fulfilling my duties, defending and upholding my employer’s interests in negotiations with partners, in arbitration, in courts of various jurisdictions, as well as in relations with government agencies and third-party organizations, constantly honing my professionalism.

As a responsible employee, I often placed my employer’s interests above my own, and this imbalance turned out to be extremely destructive for me. The situation worsened during the liquidation process of the company and the breakdown within a once unified team. All this led to emotional burnout. As a lawyer, someone with a vast amount of knowledge about the company’s activities accumulated over 15 years, I couldn’t just leave suddenly. So, I witnessed my colleagues leave one by one. It was painful to say goodbye.

Yes, the last year at the company, 2021, was very tough… Every morning, I woke up already feeling tired and apathetic. I performed my duties automatically, without feeling, without emotion… there was none left. And was I even there? I felt broken, crushed, destroyed. The feelings of bitterness, failure, and guilt were constantly oppressing me. I didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to sleep, didn’t want anything—I had no desires left. I don’t know how it would have ended if one weekend I hadn’t forced myself to pick up a canvas. I knew I needed to find a way out of this dead-end state, and creativity could help. Apparently, my depressed soul somehow reached out to my consciousness with a quiet voice pointing me in the right direction. I sat for a long time staring at the canvas, searching for inspiration. But what can be found in inner emptiness? Nothing in the outer world brought me joy.

It seems that emotional burnout rebuilt and renewed my consciousness, changing my outlook on the world around me and on myself. Everything changed. As they say, ‘To build something new, you need to tear down the old.’ I went through my own destruction; it was time to build my new world and recreate myself. I was gathering myself piece by piece, collecting the fragments of my soul. My creative nature took over and led me to a new level of mastery. I embarked on a new path with a new name: Asseya!

How did attending the painting studio in 2018 influence you, and how did this decision change your life?

Since childhood, I have been passionate about drawing, participated in competitions, and won. My school notebooks were ‘decorated’ with intricate drawings, much to the displeasure of my teachers and parents. Creativity was always an integral part of my life. As I developed as an individual and a professional, it receded into the background. However, events in 2018 put everything back into place.

My younger daughter, Miroslava, is a very creative person. In 2018, when she was six years old, I decided to take her to an art studio where talented artist-teachers taught children how to paint. As it happened, the creative process captivated me as well, and it still hasn’t let go. I am immensely happy about that.

It was a curious sight: the class was in session, with the children painting their pictures at easels, while I stood nearby—’Aunt Olya,’ as they called me—working on my own oil painting on a large canvas. I painted picture after picture, meticulously honing my skills. I couldn’t stop. One day, the studio administrator jokingly said, ‘Since you joined us, Olga, the children have been choosing their themes based on what you paint: If Olga is painting peacocks, everyone paints peacocks; if Olga is painting peonies, everyone paints peonies.’ In reality, the studio employed very talented young artists who generously shared their knowledge and skills with the students. I am incredibly grateful to them!

That’s how painting entered my life. At that time, I was still working as a lawyer, but I always found time for my favorite activity—for creativity. Everything in our lives happens at the right time, and painting came to me when it was meant to. More than once, it has saved me during emotionally difficult situations. It is a new resource for me! It’s a vast potential! It’s a separate, rich, and mysterious world!

You could say that in 2018, my life was divided into ‘before’ and ‘after.’ Thanks to painting, everything around me gained new colors. I began to notice things I hadn’t seen before: shades, colors, shapes, details…

Olga Naumenko | The Soul’s Journey

You mentioned experiencing emotional burnout in 2021. How did painting help you cope and recover during that difficult time?

For me, painting is not just a mechanical process. It might sound crude, but I’ll explain. Painting is a conversation with yourself, with your soul, with your inner world. I approach the canvas with a concept in mind, with certain thoughts, but in my case, creativity isn’t about the mind or thoughts. The painting creates itself. The brush dances over the canvas, and this dance is only understood by it and my soul. Often, when the painting is finished, I study it closely, trying to comprehend the conversation that took place in a world beyond the grasp of reason. And I do understand. I see the enchanting and powerful energies that permeate my paintings.

When I paint, I enter a special altered state of consciousness, a state of mental calm. My soul creates, and through creativity, it has healed. The restoration of my spiritual world was followed by physical healing. The harmonizing, healing energies remain on the canvases forever, working wherever and with whomever they end up.

Could you describe the process of creating your abstract textured paintings?

Oh! It’s amazing, I must say! The essence of this process, its energetic aspect, I described in my previous answer. Now, let’s talk about the technique.

In creating a new work, aside from textured paste, primer, acrylic and dry paints, sprays, and wax pastes, I use a wide variety of materials—different types of gold leaf, foil, paper, glass granules, fabric, tree bark, and even sand. To create various textures, I use different application techniques as well as special varnishes like crackle varnish to achieve cracks on the texture or paint. I won’t reveal all my secrets—I’ll leave some mystery.

To be honest, for a long time, I didn’t understand abstract art. Now, I can’t help but paint it. I guess I’ve come to understand and appreciate abstraction for what it is. It’s not easy to break away from the conventional understanding of the world around us, to depart from familiar depictions and abstract them, to represent them using purely formal elements like line, plane, color blotches, and so on. It’s a different way of thinking, a different perspective. It’s thrilling!

So, let’s return to the painting process. With an idea in mind, I first select a canvas for its realization, then gather the necessary materials and paints. I apply textured paste to the canvas using various palette knives, brushes, and, when needed, other items from my material collection (foil, paper, bark…). The painting then needs time, about a day, to rest and dry. If multiple layers of texture need to be applied in stages, each layer dries for a day. That’s the technique. After the texture dries, I give it color, glow, and age it using special methods. The white, seemingly lifeless texture gains character, depth, movement—the plot comes to life with a myriad of colors. I love layering colors; it gives the paintings a certain mystery, depth, and multidimensionality.

The creation process is always unpredictable because the soul has its own plans. The mind decided to paint an interesting textured spiral, but the soul said, ‘This will be a writhing dragon.’ And that’s how I paint my works.

Olga Naumenko | Human

What themes or messages do you aim to convey through your works, especially in paintings like ‘Human,’ ‘Earth’s Waters,’ and ‘The Soul’s Journey’?

I must admit, without false modesty, that the deep meaning and symbolism of the painting ‘Human’ amazed even me! The idea was there, but what my soul expressed, its thoughts reflected on the canvas, are worthy of admiration.

The abstract painting ‘Human’ reveals the essence of a person as a combination of conscience, spirit, soul, and body. The inner light of a person—the light of the spirit, conscience, a symbol of the divine origin of humans—is represented in the painting by shades of yellow partially covering a golden background. In this way, the inner light of a person, their spirit and conscience, manifests itself.

The painting shimmers and sparkles depending on the angle and the light, which is also symbolic—a symbol of a person’s multifaceted nature, a symbol of their manifestation as a creator in different areas of life and various life situations. The depth and complexity of the soul are depicted through the interplay of many shades of blue and indigo with glowing thin silver and gold veins, symbolizing the manifestation of a person’s soul in the material world. The connection between spirit and soul, the manifestation of spirit and conscience through the soul in our material world, is shown through the texture in blue tones. The red splashes on the foreground represent matter, the physical body, one’s blood ties, one’s lineage. The breadth of the splashes symbolizes the tree of human kin. The artificial aging of the painting speaks to the centuries-old history of the essence of every person and humanity as a whole.

I hope this painting, and the meanings embedded in it, will inspire people to explore themselves, to reflect on their essence and value, their place and role in this world.

The abstract painting ‘Earth’s Waters’ is dedicated to our beautiful planet. It is also filled with symbolism and meaning. The upper and lower waters of the Earth (the top and bottom parts of the painting in blue tones on foil) combine to give life (the part of the painting in the color of young greenery), vibrant and diverse, rapidly developing, symbolically depicted by a silver stream on the blue and green bands in the center of the painting. The depiction of the depth, purity, and transparency of the waters is enhanced by the foiled base. The blue horizontal stripe in the center of the composition represents our world, situated between the waters, where life materializes in all its forms.

The painting is aimed at human development and harmonization, giving motivation for movement, improvement, and growth. It also encourages the viewer to reflect on the need for careful treatment of Earth’s waters, its plant and animal world, and Earth as our home overall.

In the abstract painting ‘The Soul’s Journey,’ the path of the soul homeward is depicted—its return to its origins. When a person is born, perhaps only in early childhood do they remember their soul, hear it, and follow its call. They are one, as intended, living in the same flow. Through such unity, the soul can realize the purpose of this incarnation. However, as one grows, they ‘acquire’ beliefs, principles, and convictions and forget their soul, stop hearing it. And it grieves, it cries, causing suffering in the person who doesn’t understand the cause. But from the start, the entire path of a person is a journey to oneself—it is the soul’s journey, the journey of growth in Spirit! Many people live with an inexplicable, aching longing, not understanding its nature. It’s quite possible that their soul is simply yearning for its native home. This painting is a guide in finding one’s path.

Olga Naumenko | Earth’s Waters

What role does symbolism play in your art, and how do you integrate it into your abstract works?

Symbolism is one of the languages an artist uses to communicate with their audience. This language is close and understandable to me, as the paintings I create are filled with mysterious sacred, mythological plots and meanings that, in my opinion, can only be conveyed through symbolism.

What does abstract painting mean to you, and why is it your passion?

Yes, it’s truly a passion! That’s the only way to describe my relationship with abstract painting. After all, it’s a mystery waiting to be solved, a secret hidden beneath formal elements, and I am drawn to everything mysterious, mystical, and sacred. I love to set riddles and solve them. In abstract paintings, where there are no obvious forms or understandable objects, sacred meanings, algorithms, and energies fit harmoniously. My paintings have a special kind of magnetism because they are imbued with my love for painting, for abstraction; they are filled with transformative energies that bring people the long-awaited change.