The earliest memories of Olga Teksheva (b. 1973 in Moscow, Russia) are about drawing and about books on art history of her mother’s library. The paintings of Giorgione, of Titian, of Botticelli took her to a fairy-tale world which, as her mother explained, was called “Italy”. So, from the age of 4, a journey to Italy and a life of art become her biggest dreams. In 1996 Olga graduates with MA in Art History at Lomonosov University of Moscow. For many years she would work as fashion journalist and tutor of Fashion History, Costume History and Art History. At the same time she is writing her PhD in art history and taking a course of Drawing and Painting at the private studio of Liudmila Ermolaeva, an important artist in Moscow artistic circles. In 2007 she travels to Rome for the first time, and the beauty of the Eternal City makes true her childhood dreams about Italy. The happiness and the inspiration of that journey have changed her life. In 2008 she moves to Rome to study Fashion and Costume Design and takes a course in Haute Couture Embroidery. While she studies, she realizes that being anchored to the wearability necessities, even in Haute Couture gowns, is far too limiting to all those surface design experiments she would like to try out. After 20 years of working in fashion she distances herself from that field and begins to create samples for artistic, experimental fabrics. At the beginning of 2015 those samples grow so large that become true mixed-media pieces, first on canvas and then also on paper. A work of art, an art object, an art gesture, be it an installation or performance… This artist sees any art form as a strong presence in space and a strong presence in mind of who is interacting with it. Something that parts from a very attentive observation and study of the real world but takes us on a imaginary journey that changes the way we perceive the world and ourselves, that makes us feel the beauty of life and that makes us see ourselves as better human beings. Olga creates art objects with precious, complicated, multi-layered surfaces. In one piece she mixes up acrylic painting, embroidery, draped distressed fabrics, 3D lace produced on water soluble base, and different found objects. The quality of lines and work with colours is very important, as that of the quality of production. Her attention to the artisanal aspects of every piece is something that comes to her art from the world of Haute Couture. The “Fast Art” is definitely not the sphere of her interest. The research for every piece begins with sketches of natural objects and surfaces: the underwater world, the distressed leaves with their “skeletons” that resemble precious lace, the plants, the marks on the pebbles found at the beach by the artist’s daughter. Even though Olga works in series, every piece becomes a non-repeatable experience, full of unique details and connected to personal stories and memories of the artist.
EXHIBITIONS
15 March – 15 June 2025 “Naturales Quaestiones”, group show curated by Barbara Pavan at CasermArcheologica (Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy)
8 March – 12 April 2025 “Glass Ceiling”, group show curated by Laura Facchini for Windmill Art Power Plant women artists database
