Olga Fedorova Talks About Her Art, NFTs and More

Olga Fedorova, lives and works in Brussels, Belgium, where she received her M.A. in painting from ENSAV, Brussels.

Her works and projects have been the subject of solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums across Europe. Most recently, her work has been included in the group exhibition Future Love. Desire and Kinship in Hypernatureat Haus der Elektronischen Künste in Basel, Switzerland; Escaping the Digital Unease (curated by Domenico Quaranta) at Kunsthaus Langenthal, Switzerland. In 2018, the artist presented a solo show, Short Term Memories, at Annka Kultys Gallery, London, UK (2018); She Lives in You, Charlot Gallery, Paris, France (2018), Generic Jungle at Annka Kultys Gallery, London, UK (2016); The Inevitability of a Strange World, at Liebaert Projects in Kortrijk, Belgium (2016), Road to Know Where, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (2020), as well as a virtual solo exhibition at OFFSPACE. Fedorova’s video works have been also included in virtual exhibition. Olga is represented by Tatjana Pieters gallery.

Olga’s NFTs can be found on OBJKT and Foundation.

Hi Olga. Thank you for sitting down with me. First question that I always ask. How does a regular day look like for you in Belgium?

Like everywhere. I do a lot of routine, art and sport.

Quick question. What brought you to Belgium?

I grew up in Moscow and studied at the Surikov Art Academy at the Faculty of Graphic Design. I did not finish my studies because I moved to Belgium. In Brussels I studied painting at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de La Cambre (ENSAV).

You’re one of the OG’s of the digital artspace, and has been in the game way before it became popular and mainstream. Do you remember how old you were when you first started to play around with different design programs, what programs you used and what do you use now?

I had the opportunity to study some softwares at school. I always wanted to try something new, so in 2015 when I also felt I needed a break from painting, I downloaded 3D Max and began to work. Every day, step by step I was learning how to use this amazing and fascinating software. I did it for fun really.

While we’re on the subject. What made digital art your preferred way of expressing yourself, and not more traditional ways like painting or drawing?

It is more convenient because you can work everywhere and you don’t need a studio. Right now with AI you need just a phone.

The various surreal scenes in your artworks. How do you come up with them? what’s the inspiration behind them?

My main inspiration comes from life around me. What I see around myself, movies or books. I work intuitively. My work reflects how my mind interprets events, based on my personal history and background.

With that in mind. Who are the characters?

Strangers and myself.

Naked bodies and women, as well as intimate situations is a recurring thing in your artworks. What’s the story there? What are you aiming to convey?

I like how skin looks visually. I share my feelings and experiences. Everybody sees their own story when they look at my work – I like it like that. My work has its own life.

Ok Olga, let’s talk about NFTs now. The concept of NFTs started back in 2014 and started becoming mainstream around 2017. For somebody like you, who’s been into digital art for years. What were your initial reaction to NFTs?

When NFTs first emerged in 2014, they were a new concept with a niche audience, primarily tech enthusiasts and blockchain advocates. At the time, the idea of a digital asset that was unique and verifiable on a blockchain was intriguing, but it didn’t gain widespread attention until much later.

In 2017, the popularity of NFTs began to surge, and they quickly became a buzzword in the art and tech communities. This was largely due to the rise of crypto collectibles, such as CryptoKitties, which demonstrated the potential for NFTs as a new form of digital ownership and investment.

In the years since, NFTs have continued to evolve and expand beyond the realm of collectibles to include digital art, music, and other forms of creative expression. While there are still debates about the environmental impact and speculative nature of NFTs, they have undoubtedly opened up new opportunities for artists and creators to monetize their work and engage with their audiences in innovative ways.

NFTs also enable artists to receive royalties for their works even after they are sold.

With that in mind… What are your thoughts on the future of NFTs and the shift they bring to the art scene?

Difficult question. Maybe in 10 years we will have an absolutely new model of selling and presenting art. Perhaps a collector will just buy an idea and an artificial intelligence will make the actual visualization so there won’t be any artists at all. Overall, the future of NFTs in the art world is uncertain and will depend on how they continue to evolve and be adopted by artists, collectors, and the wider public.