Dates of event :
from: 25. 10. 2019
to: 5. 1. 2020
Venue :
Bratislavský hrad, 2. poschodie
Igor Olejnikov, holder of H. Ch. Andersen Award 2018
(*4. 1. 1953 Lubertsy, Moscow, Russia)
He studied chemical engineering despite the fact that he wanted to study printing. During his studies he was working as an engineer at the Institute of Chemical Engineering for three years. Then he started working in the studio of animation Sojuzfilm, first as an assistant and later as an art director. He has been working for book and magazine publishing houses in Moskow since 1986 and in 2008 he finished working in the field of animation. He has dedicated his work only to illustration. He has illustrated more than 80 titles.
Sometimes not-studying can be advantageous and it is obvious especially by Igor Olejnikov. No one made him illustrate the way it would not suit him. He relies on his own feeling and this enables him to have his own point of view and a certain kind of freedom. As he has mentioned – he likes illustrating books of world literature that have already been illustrated by other famous illustrators before. He is trying to find his own way and his own point of view. He concentrates on finding something what is not directly described in the text, answers to questions that are not directly asked, but he is trying to define them in his illustrations.
His works have been awarded many times and I think that Hans Christian Andersen Award 2018 is in the right hands.
Mgr. Viera Anoškinová,
Head of BIB Secretariat