Artist Name: Olga Pastekova
Residency Dates: August 2026
Born: 1984
Hometown: Bratislava, Slovakia
Lives & Works: Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria
URL: www.olique.sk | Instagram: @olga.pastekova
Education:
2009 – Master’s studies, The Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD), Bratislava, Slovakia
2008 – Study visit at The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria; studio of Prof. Daniel Richter
2006 – Bachelor’s studies, The Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD), Bratislava, Slovakia
Bio/Statement:
Olga Pastekova’s practice explores ecological and social relationships between humans, animals, nature, and civilization. She mainly works with painting on canvas and paper, combining traditional techniques with experimental approaches such as layering and the use of light. Pastekova creates visual “landscapes” that move between image and symbol, often inspired by mythological thinking and posthumanist perspectives. She is interested in how contemporary life reshapes the boundaries between nature and culture, and how these tensions can be translated into painterly language. Displaying Olga Pastekova’s current works always involves entering a melancholic, fragile landscape with an often disturbed balance. For a long time, she has been building her program consisting of paintings with a very personal appeal and challenge about the dehumanized contemporary world and its destructive relationship with nature and other living creatures. Her previous paintings intensively reveal the intuitive, wild, and unrestrained power of nature, but also human nature – hence the ravens, wolves, werewolves, and the lunatic power of the dark night. This emotional charge is amplified by barely indicated figures – unclear shadows, ghosts, vague outlines of tense bodies. It is a metaphorical and fearless entry into an enchanted forest and the urban outskirts.
Olga’s solo exhibitions include: Will-o’-the-Wisps, Nitra Gallery – BUNKER, Nitra, Slovakia (2026); Die Nacht trägt Lippenstift, Kunstzelle-WUK, Vienna, Austria (2026); Whispering Waters, Intervention – Parallel Vienna, Otto Wagner Areal, Vienna, Austria (2025); Wolfsmond, Red Carpet Art Award, U3 Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria (2024); From Dusk Till Dawn, Artist Statement – Parallel Vienna, Otto Wagner Areal, Austria (2024). She has participated in many group exhibitions, such as Die Sammlung als Ausstellung, Krinzinger Schottenfeld, Vienna, Austria (2026); Escape into the World of Illusion, Splitart Projects, Vienna, Austria (2025); Back to Athens 12, Escape into the World of Illusion, Athens, Greece (2025); Contemporary Slovak Art, Gallery Bielska BWA, Poland (2025). Olga Pastekova’s work is included in several collections: Nitra Gallery, Slovakia; Orava Gallery, Dolný Kubín, Slovakia; Bratislava City Gallery, Slovakia; Imago Mundi, Lucianno Benetton Foundation, Treviso, Italy; AA collections, Vienna, Austria.
