CVBorn in 1999 in Crimea and based in Kyiv, Olesia Lickona is a contemporary figurative and symbolist artist working with traditional media. She was trained in graphic design and spent years in private studios of academic drawing, watercolor and textile painting, which formed her classical foundation and tactile approach to surface and colour. After her career as an Art Lead in Digital Art Studio, Olesia develops a personal body of work for the gallery context.
ARTIST STATEMENTMy painting is an attempt to capture the moment when reality begins to tremble and dissolve into feeling. I explore the theme of liminality: the transitions between inner and outer worlds, body and space, memory and the present. In my work, animal figures and fragments of the human body become not characters in a narrative, but markers of emotional states - as if the viewer had entered a dreamlike room where familiar objects suddenly take on symbolic meaning.At the heart of my work is a gentle invitation to reconnect with fragile, often overlooked emotions: anxiety, tenderness, loneliness, and the anticipation of wonder. I dedicate my time to creating visual “quiet spaces” where difficult feelings can be experienced safely and hidden magic can be discovered in the ordinary.I describe what I do with the word "hiraeth". This Welsh term expresses a deep, soulful longing for a home that may never have existed, for places we can no longer return to but that continue to live within us. For me, "hiraeth" is the feeling of being “in between”: when everything seems familiar, yet the landscape of the soul is quietly shifting. My paintings are about this inner journey, about gentle melancholy, tenderness, solitude, and the anticipation of something magical.I work with acrylics and oils, building up layers to create deep, vibrating colors. I construct soft, atmospheric spaces, introduce luminous hues, and leave plenty of air and emptiness so that objects appear slightly detached from reality. Sometimes, loose, spontaneous lines emerge across otherwise calm surfaces - like traces of movement or impulse, the imprint of a living gesture.This theme is deeply personal to me because, in a world that moves so quickly and is filled with constant noise, it is easy to lose touch with ourselves. I want to create quiet visual sanctuaries where we can pause for a moment and acknowledge our complex emotions without feeling the need to explain them. My paintings offer a space where hiraeth becomes not only a source of longing and sorrow, but also a source of meaning, comfort, and inner strength.
EDUCATION
2015-2018 Faculty of Graphic Design at the College of the Crimean Humanitarian University.Crimea
2013- 2019 Private lessons at the Academic drawing and Watercolor studioCrimea
2008-2019 Private art studio lessons focused on composition and the development of visual ideasCrimea
EXPERIENCE
2026-Present Independent Studio Practice, Kyiv
2024-2026 Art Lead at Product Digital Art Studio, Kyiv
2021-2024 Art Lead and Artist at Outsource Digital Art Art Studio, Kyiv
2019-2021 Junior Artist at Digital Art Studio, Kyiv