Find your favorite artwork in a few clicks

Underwater Exhibition Red Sea

From October 15, 2022 to December 15, 2022

ART VOYAGE GALLERY (Sempach, Switzerland)

Olga Nikitina is a Russian artist and one of the new pioneers in the growing field of underwater painting - literally art created underwater during scuba diving. The original pioneer of underwater painting was Andre Laban, the engineer of Cousteau’s team. "I can gratefully say that I am a follower of Andre Laban. Painting underwater is completely different from traditional painting above the surface. When I am underwater I feel the ocean energy and unity with nature, silence around, only I can hear my breathing and sometimes fish rambling. It is easy to enter a trance state when painting underwater. Rays from the sun penetrating through the water are magical - you can see and feel that this is the point where two different worlds intersect and mix – and this is a favorite subject to reflect in my paintings. I have been doing underwater painting for a few years. In Shams Safaga Diving Center we have a magnificent house reef – my underwater painting backyard. There is a big variety of shapes, colors, lights, and backgrounds to use as art subjects. Sometimes on a normal scuba dive I will see something really special – and look forward to recreating it on canvas with my colors, as soon as I can get to them. I work at different depths below the surface, which affect the color spectrum you can see (as we know with depth we lose colors) and sometimes it is a big surprise on the surface seeing what I have painted below. One session takes anything from 30 minutes up to 2 hours – depending on air and decompression limits - and an assistant is necessary to help with equipment. I believe that with my paintings more people will fall in love with the world of the sea, and become involved in the protection of our oceans for future generations to enjoy and wonder at. That is what I wish to come of these works and this experience in my life." "In October 2017 was organized underwater exhibition which was definitely first in Egypt and maybe even in the world. Duration were days 24th and 31st October. Early in the morning Shams team put all paintings underwater on the Shams Safaga House Reef in the places where exactly it were painted. For easy navigation there was a line which connected each spot where paintings were, that's why our visitors didn't miss any of them. I performed a master class straight underwater while all guests were watching exhibition. Everyone could see the process. Divers know that colors change with depth and paintings looks completely different than on the surface with normal light. That makes us more curious to see the paintings after we took it out of the water. Exhibition lasted 2 hours, more than 100 divers visited it. There was a surprise as well - the main model the turtle Henrietta visited our exhibition and stood with us till the end. We could take some pictures of Henrietta, her portrait and the artist Olga. It was a great experience for all us."