Your art has to do with body positivity and sexual liberation (among other things). What…
Olia Svetlanova
Interview with the CGI artist2 February 2021
The work of artist Olia Svetlanova (@oliasvetlanova_) utilises her CGI skills, as well as the sharing power of social media to create her own, ever-changing, virtual identities.
Through at times eerie renderings, Olia’s artwork highlights the ease of which virtual forms can be created, as well as distorted. YEOJA Mag spoke to Olia about the inspirations behind her art, the restrictions of social media on the images she shares, and the interplay between the non-human and human elements in her renderings.
In the virtual realm you can create anything, anywhere. Did you set yourself any boundaries or a set of rules for the world you create?
Olia Svetlanova: Most of the things I do are shared through social media so I have to adapt to the rules that are imposed. Beyond that I don’t have any particular limitations.
Your artistic path started at an Academy of Fine Arts, but you didn’t begin with rendering, right?
Olia Svetlanova: Yes, I studied painting at a Fine Arts academy but for the CGI I’m self-taught.
Let’s start with one of your earlier “pink jelly” creations. Have you noticed mixing jelly is a new trend? Why do you think this texture is so “in” and what does it stand for in your work?
Olia Svetlanova: I’m not so interested in trends. Creating from the natural world, in particular from the marine world, allows me to eliminate the human element and be able to work in an abstract way.
Just like many womxn dealing with the femxle body in their art you had issues with Instagram blocking one or two of your pictures. We’ve also talked with artist Arvida Byström about guidelines fueling her aesthetic. Have Instagram’s policies shaped your art in any way?
Olia Svetlanova: I don’t think they particularly affected my aesthetics but they certainly constitute a great limitation to what I can show online.
You had a phase where all your uploads were more abstract and less human-like, although still organic entities. To us they look like the eggs your creatures will hatch from. Was that intentional?
Olia Svetlanova: As mentioned earlier; what I was interested in, in that case, was eliminating the human element but I don’t think there was any intention to build a coherent narrative through my instagram feed. I’m glad that someone has seen one, though.
This reminds us of the demogorgon from Stranger Things. Do you notice how many “monsters” from film and TV shows (for example Mitchell Lichtenstein’s Teeth) bear similarities to organs associated with cis-female bodies?
Olia Svetlanova: Yes, but I don’t think I have an explanation for the phenomenon. There’s actually a long and complex common thread in art history regarding these things.
In this render you generated a tattoo on your heroine’s breast, but it’s not an imprint but rather something emerging. Is that a comment on ideology shaping actual flesh?
Olia Svetlanova: I guess I just wanted to deform the flesh and make that particular model a little bit inhuman.
You also posted a genius rendering that, in my opinion, resembles a sort of 90’s “tramp stamp” tattoo meets goth uterus. I never noticed that the so-called tramp stamp is reminiscent of the uterus’ form. What are your thoughts?
Olia Svetlanova: Many of the things I do are based on a uterine form. I never really thought about what it meant. It’s probably part of a set of archetypal forms. Maybe that’s why it’s so common or we’re inclined to interpret a lot of what we see that traces back to that particular form.
What creative endeavors are you looking forward to embarking on in the new year?
Olia Svetlanova: I don’t know for now as it’s all so uncertain.
_
Visuals provided by Olia. To follow Olia on Instagram, click here. For more interviews, click here.