Olga Krykun (b. 1994, Odesa, Ukraine) invents a self-contradictory mythology of our time by combining elements of fictional narratives with references to real cultural and socially relevant symbols. Her practice is strongly rooted in intuition, emotion, and personal experience; thus, her mood, cultural heritage, women’s narratives, and the post-internet era greatly influence her work. She often uses large amounts of water in the painting process, adding to the blurred, dreamlike character of her works.

Krykun's work is heavily informed by her experiences growing up in her family's souvenir shop during a swiftly globalizing 1990s Ukraine. Her practice serves as a kind of poetry for the times we live in.

"The underlying experience for Olga Krykun’s generation is 'post-digital intimacy', which manifests itself in the artist’s work by balancing on the borderline between the offline and online worlds, at the intersection of which she tries to find something meaningful and authentic. She combines with ease elements of pagan or Eastern-Slavic mythology and ritualistic practice, which, on a deeper level, speak to shared values and cultural identity, with popular culture symbols and products. What comes out of it is an excessive creativity and roughness that could be described as a form of feminist punk.” (Jindřich Chalupecký Award jury statement)

Her works have been shown in multiple solo and group exhibitions across Europe and Asia and have been awarded the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, laureate
(2022). She holds an MFA from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (2021).

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