| 1966 | Born in St. Petersburg |
| 1985 - 1987 | Studied music and vocal |
| 1987 - 1990 | Studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg |
| 2000 - 2004 | Project "Deep Purple in Art" approx. 100 paintings on canvas |
| 2004 | Publication of the book “Deep Purple in Art”, Edition Braus, Heidelberg |
| 2004 - 2008 | Project "Rolling Stones in Art" approx. 100 paintings on canvas |
| 2008 | Publication of the book “Rolling Stones in Art”, Edition Braus, Heidelberg |
| 2008 - 2015 | Project "ac/dc in Art" approx. 100 paintings on canvas |
| seit 2017 | Work on the Project "They are Looking at Us"; until now completed approx. 4500 portraits-drawings of the Victims of the Holocaust |
| Member of VG Bild Kunst | |
| Lives and works in Berlin, Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg |
| 1997 - 1999 | Scholarship from Karl Hofer Society, Berlin |
| 2020 | „They are Looking at Us“, Hengesbach Gallery, Wuppertal (D) |
| 2008 | Gallery Sandmann, Berlin (D) |
| 2007 | Gallery U7, Frankfurt/M (D) |
| 2004 | Kunst-Stiftung Starke, Löwenpalais, Berlin (D) |
| 2003 | Gallery Bernauer, Frankfurt/M (D); Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 2002 | Gallery Heitsch, München (D); Gallery Nieppel bei Morawitz, Düsseldorf (D); Gallery Mainz, Berlin (D); Gallery Dürr, München (D) |
| 2001 | Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, St. Petersburg (RU); Gallery “Weber”, Wiesbaden (D) |
| 2000 | Gallery Wild, Frankfurt/M (D); Gallery Haasner, Wiesbaden (D); Gallery Mainz, Berlin (D) |
| 1999 | Gallery Hesselbach, Berlin (D); State Museum of Urban Sculpture, St. Petersburg (RU); Art Frankfurt Gallery Wild (D) |
| 1998 | Gallery Wild, Frankfurt/M (D); Gallery Mainz, Berlin (D) |
1997 | Gallery Arcus, Berlin (D) | 1996 | Gallery Borey, St. Petersburg (RU); Gallery Haasner, Wiesbaden (D) |
1995 | Art Frankfurt Gallery Wild (D); Palace Belozersky-Beloselsky, St.Petersburg (RU) |
1994 | Gallery Wild, Frankfurt/M (D); IKB Industrial Bank, Berlin (D) |
1992 | Gallery Forum, St.Petersburg (RU); Marble Palace, St. Petersburg (RU); Gallery Baltic, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 2020 | The State Russian Museum, Marble Palace, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 2016 | Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm (RU) |
| 2015 | The State Russian Museum, Marble Palace, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 2009 | Kunst-Stiftung Starke, Löwenpalais, Berlin (D) |
| 2000 | Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 1999 | The State Russian Museum, Michailov Palace, St. Petersburg (RU) |
| 1997 | Gallery Giessler und Nothelfer, Berlin (D) | 1994 | “New Art”, Estland (EST) | 1993 | Central Exhibition Hall “Manege” St. Petersburg (RU) | 1990 | “Diagilev Seasons”, St. Petersburg (RU) |
I was born and raised in a family of artists. My mother - painter Galiy Vainman; my grandfather - sculptor Moisey Vainman. I grew up in a very special atmosphere of creativity; from early childhood, I was surrounded by art, which influenced my life. I felt this physically, it was as strong, like reading a good book, seeing a powerful performance or from hearing great music. The result was heightened perception of everything that surrounds me: the smell of the wind, rustling leaves, buildings, streets, blue sky - everything was filled with delight.
My grandfather, Moisey Vainman, was truly obsessed with сreating art. Usually, he worked on a sculpture in his studio during the day and in the evening, at home, he worked on drawings from the model. In the late 1960s, when he had a serious heart attack and the doctor said that he must stop working, he replied, “If I don’t work, I don’t need to live.” And he continued to work as much as he did before. This conversation happened not long before he died from the effects of his heart attack.
My mother lived, as a small child, with her parents in a studio of Academy of Arts (1945-1946, their house was burned down during the war). She woke up in the morning surrounded by the plaster heads - plaster castings from antique sculptures. She told me later that this made a very strong impression at her. Once, she decided to wash the plaster heads, to suprise her parents, because they looked dirty: after washing with them with water, the plaster castings became black because it was plaster!
The life of the family was totally subordinated by art. And in normal, daily life, they were lived very modestly. Even going to «Ice-cream Cafe» was a celebration. But what brought them real joy - was a creation, art. Mom once said to me "how can a person, with such a childhood, perceive life?" Her perception - was "naked". And everything surrounding her made a really strong impression. She once said, "I am like a sponge, I absorb everything I see around me.” Such impressionability makes it more difficult to go through life, but for creation it is imperative.
They had seen life “in a different way”, and passed the vision of life “in a different way” on to me. Imagination was an important part of it. As a child, I experienced this as something fabulous, which was almost not connected to real life; a fabulous reality replaced the reality around us. This “different, fabulous reality” was very powerful. It felt like facing a curtain, and behind the curtain something wonderful, extraordinary existed. But this wonderful, extraordinary, subject did not take on any form, and so it remained something invisible, but attracting with its mystery and inaccessibility. I think that this feeling of something extraordinary, enticing, and delightful, but not in a material form gave me an opportunity to feel happiness from immateriality at an early age, which was really important.
I now know that was not easy for them to create, that they had to face many difficulties, but my imagination as a child perceived only one side - as magic. This was the miracle of the process of creation, which hypnotized me from my very early age. It's amazing that, as a child, we can feel beyond understanding. And it is important to me to be, to keep the possibility to feel beyond understanding when we grow up. Otherwise, contrarily to become Little again, as Janusz Korczak titled his book - “When I Am Little Again”. I didn’t realize a lot with my understanding at that time, but the feeling was so strong that it influenced the whole of my life.
I think that this “miracle”, that was next to me - shaped me as an artist and laid foundation for my future. It happened such a habit to this "miracle", such an addiction, like to the air, which we take a breath of, that if this "miracle" is not here anymore - then the whole life becoming to be empty and senseless, and «you can't take a breathe».
I remember the black trunks of trees and yellow house in the background in a painting by my mother. This landscape made such a strong impression on me as a child; later, as an artist, I always subconsciously try to reach this "penetration" in one form or another. Everything was this painting: piercing sadness and yearning at the same time, color and linear contrast relaying sadness as a sense of impetuous light. In the painting were just black trunks of tree and yellow house in the background, but it caused such a strong feeling, probably because of this short and clear artistic formulation. The painting was full of “maximum artistic fullness”. I remember that this artistic penetration and fullness that made me tremble and, at the same time, also brought on a feeling of satisfaction, an extremely powerful sensation. I still experience art this way today: that defines real art for me. This is what attracts me still and forever. Strong emotions.
I have been drawing and painting since my early childhood. I remember my first excitement when I was working with a color. It was bright green which I used to paint grapes. This color was very fresh and brings me great joy. It was really amazing that color could bring such a joy. And I still remember this feeling as one of the most exciting feelings in my life. When I was a child my Mom gave me a great sheets of paper which I filled with everything in my imagination. On these sheets of paper, was running a very special life. These sheets of paper were path to another reality. Today I understand that by drawing and painting I unconsciously created an imaginary reality which I lived in then. I couldn’t go to school regularly because was often ill, and during these periods of time I painted. My Mom gave me the opportunity to live this way and to feel the life in this way. In some sense, creativity for me was a retreat from reality into my own world, but not only. Later, I realized that art should create its own conventional reality, its own conventional world, and art draws the people into this world. And the main thing here is that it should be alive. But here is also important: a sense of happiness, a fullness of feeling, a sense of fulfillment and contentmen. And Rhythm, and artistic Formulation, and - the Truth carry it out as well.
Music has been always very important to me. This is probably from my grandfather: he loved music very much and was inspired by it, especially Prokofiev’s and Shostakovich’s music, who were his contemporaries. Music inspires me, but as a means of self-expression, music did not give me the freedom that I needed. And in art I felt this freedom really strongly.
Mom never forced me to draw and did not teach me to paint, she just gave me a lot of paper and colors; and it was like an endless field which I was invited to walk freely and to do what I wanted to. Mom believed that disengagement and naturalness are very important in life and in art. She gave me a possibility to feel freedom .This freedom, she taught me (unconsciously), led to an unquenchable thirst for creativity in my life.
“I am for Naturalness.
Creativity - is Energetic Output.
I love Sun, Warmth, and Freedom.
The Purpose of Creativity for me - is to give an Emotional Charge.
I love to temper, to swim in a cold water.
I love a deep August's nights with a big stars in the sky.
I love beautiful Folk Toys - wooden, and Toys for Christmas Tree,
The Jubilation of their Beauty.
I love a Childish Naivety in people.
I don't like pragmatism and prudence.
I love the Leaves, the Streets, the Bright Blue Sky, Houses, which are Lit by Sunshine in Springtime.
And I also love the Smiling Faces.
SMILES”.
Galya Vainman
I think that the words, the colors, the lines and the sounds should be arranged freely, just by following your feeling. This is probably the most important thing. As well, as intentions and ideas in art, are coming to you through feelings, which brings to you your time and your life itself. It seems to me that ideas for an artist come about naturally, like the way a tree grows. Because art — is a part of Nature. And the roots of art - go deep into the ground of life.
And art - is one of a very few ways, maybe even the only one, to express feelings without explaining anything. Through art it is possible to evoke a strong feeling in other people. A strong feeling, which doesn’t need to be explained. That is what is between words and it is exists only when is created without sparing yourself, sincerely, without lies and hypocrisy.
Olga Stozhar