Olga Chertova, Russian born, has her studio in Kaliningrad, Russia. Kaliningrad is an “enclave” with an unwelcome climate of high humidity and overcast skies. It has German roots, called Koenigsberg before World War II, the city has had a profound influence on Olga’s style and vision. The combination of German and Soviet history with modern Russia has played a major role in her development as an artist. Inspired by the locale and its population, Olga Chertova creates personages based on real people but modified through the power of her imagination. Her color palette stands in opposition to the Baltic region’s grey surroundings, mostly cloudy with only short bursts of sunshine. The primary focus of her art is to reconstitute various identities into new characters; surrealistic elements and abstract colors dominate. Documentary sketches become new personalities, extending and augmenting the real. Emotionally tense portraits rely on high volumes of color, allowing new voices to be heard. Her brushstrokes suggest the feeling of “punk” freedom. In most of her work, Olga utilizes pareidolia illusions to further explore realities below the surface. Olga Chertova works with oil and acrylic on canvas and paper. She is widely collected by private collectors.