My greatest love is India, says Russian artist Olga Levchenko

Russian artist Olga Levchenko held an exhibition at the Russian House here where more than 50 of her works which introduce history, culture, extraordinary nature and traditions of India, were displayed.

“I think like everyone else… my childhood immediately became youth; from the cradle I communicated with architects and designers. There was no choice – I will be an artist, I thought,” she said.

Levchenko, better known as Tara in India, has been living in Varanasi since the last four years. She was born and raised on Lake Baikal in “Sandy Bay” in Siberia. She works around realistic paintings intertwined with impressionism.

The exhibition was held on May 16 and is on till May 28.

“My greatest love is India and 17 trips to the the Land of Happiness changed my perception of life, this story began there,” she said.

The art exhibition turned out to be diverse filled with bright and non-standard colour solutions, textures and techniques. The artist performed her works in pastels and watercolours and they were painted in colour graphics – oil and acrylic.

Public figures and cultural figures of India like FICCI National President, Joyshree Das Verma, Russian and Serbian diplomats like Diana Alipova, spouse of the Russian Ambassador to India, were among the few visitors to the vernissage.

While talking about her work inspiration, Olga says that she used to watch how the colour of Ganges changes at different times of the day and at different times of the year. She also used to observe how the children running in the yard grew up and how the elders became wiser. Despite the ghats and the temples being the only unchanged thing, she always wanted to draw them.

The exhibition is about seeing India and Nepal through the eyes of Olga. Her artwork is inspired by India and she says, “A series of my works were written on the banks of the Ganga River, in the nooks and crannies of old cities and sacred places.” She could not sit still and constantly needed to see the changing pictures outside her window.

Her paintings are illustrations of scenic views and tourist attractions from Varanasi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi to name a few. “Behind every story there is a fairytale and each one of the paintings have an underlying message and motive to them which makes each piece unique in its own way,” she added.