Biography
Olga Dengo’s painting builds further on the many centuries-old art history of her continent and transfers it into the 21st century: powerful colours, colour combinations and contrasts expressing a global consciousness and modernity we, in the West, do not always expect from Africa. In the globalised world of today we have to keep in mind that the written, academic visual art history is mainly based and focused on western (EU-US) art. Limiting itself to a small part of the world (although there has been some small openings recently). Using the Eurocentric framework to judge art work from a totally different origin / background and with a totally different history does not make any sense. To persevere judging within this framework would be a sign of an inappropriate sense of superiority.
The unique origin of her art history, the alternative but parallel evolution it went through and Olga’s genuine attitude towards it, seem to sometimes make her work difficult to categorize. Although she seems to draw on Expressionism as a source of inspiration, it is not easy, but not necessary to slot her into any kind of artistic current. Olga experiences the difficult balance between the exotic expectations of the “art world” on African art and the pre$$ure of the art market to assimilate to the ruling, mainstream.
With her heart-warming sense of colour, Olga’s work is strongly expressive and plays with confrontations and expectations. In her expressions she touches a wide area of topics out of her daily life. Feelings and thoughts we all experience but we are not always aware of. Happiness and sadness, spirituality and rationality, solidarity and egoism, beauty and ugliness, the desire for more colour into life. Some of her work flirts with the frontiers between this world and the “other world” for whom our attention has been greatly reduced in our busy, hyper rationalised lives.
Since daily life is influenced by socio-political issues and inequality, these are an inspiration as well.
