In her dynamic, expressionist works, Olya Avstreyh explores the drama of modern womanhood. Often void of an obvious narrative, her enigmatic paintings tell the story of a human being lost in confusion. Whether it’s acrylic on canvas or oil on paper, she, paradoxically, uses mostly vibrant hues to create her dark fantasies, which are both ambiguous and bewitching.

Through recurring images of ferocious female or genderless figures, either bent or turned away from the viewer, and grotesque faces thrown into a deep nostalgia mood, she examines the complexity and awkwardness of human behaviour and the sense of alienation that she believes defines her generation.

Olya often works from photographic material, either sourced from films, fashion archives, or taken by herself — pictures of friends asking them to evoke a certain emotion or pose, often joining herself as an extra figure. A haunting, uncanny effect is what draws her interest.

“My characters often look imperfect and confused, because I’m confused,” — says Olya.

Having made international headlines with her pandemic-era series of contemporary nudes, the artist has focused on a spectrum of “situations,” from loneliness and estrangement to sensual indulgence and metamorphosis.



Her visual language draws on a diverse range of influences, including femininity, romance and rebellion, coated in a veneer of melancholia. She also fixates on the idea of metamorphosis and androgynous beauty, both human or animalistic, enthusiastically researching 70s British folk-horror films, where the everyday becomes newly estranged.

The results are large-scale brushy canvases that tell stories rooted in dark fantasies of isolation and transformation of the self, and intimate smaller works — sensual close-ups of desire and lost innocence.