On 26 December, an exhibition of a Voronezh artist, Olga Arutyunova, opened in the Rector’s Gallery of VSU. Students and staff of the university as well as admirers of the artist’s talent came to the opening ceremony.
“Each exhibition at the university is full of energy, and Olga’s paintings are no exception. They express bright and exciting life. Olga does not just paint, she creates paintings with a certain mood. Thanks to her talent, we can feel that spring is coming soon,” said VSU Rector Dmitry Endovitsky at the opening of the exhibition.
Olga Arutyunova’s bright landscapes and still-lifes show her talent and originality. Looking at her paintings, you feel like cutting a piece of the melon or breathing in the smell of pears and figs. It is so good to feel the warmth of Japanese ceramics, to look at the deep blue of the sea or at the soft petals of irises.
“I am thrilled to follow the success of Voronezh State University as I am myself a graduate of the Faculty of Philology. A university is not only a research and educational centre of the city but also a creative environment. I am grateful to all of you for giving us this idea to provide some warmth, softness, and sunshine in the middle of winter,” said Lubov Kulakova, the Head of the Department of Education, Science, and Youth Policy of the Voronezh Region.
The exhibition consists of twenty-five paintings all in all, including landscapes, still-lifes, and the artist’s self-portrait. Here you can find paintings created in Montenegro, as the artist often visits this country, and others dedicated to her native Voronezh, for example, “Winter crops” showing an overflow of the river in the village Sennoye in the Ramon region. Most often, Olga paints using a palette-knife, a special tool for applying thick oil colours. According to the artist, this technique is suitable for her character as it is passionate, swift, and energetic. There are also delicate intimate works painted with a brush. Although Arutyunova’s paintings are really different, they still have one thing in common, they all reflect the artist’s world, feelings, and thoughts.
Olga Arutyunova holds a degree in architecture. She graduated from Voronezh State Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering (later renamed as Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering; now reorganised and integrated with Voronezh State Technical University). Previously she worked as an interior designer and had a job in the construction business. She started painting about ten years ago, inspired by a trip to Montenegro.
