“DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT” — Odesa Artist Olena Lebedieva
Olena Lebedieva / Photo from personal archive
SHORT PROFILE
Name: Olena Lebedieva
Date of Birth: 1986
Place of Birth: Odesa, Ukraine
Profession: Artist
Born in Odesa in 1986, she graduated from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology at Odesa Polytechnic University. In 2016, she defended her PhD thesis and received a doctoral degree in engineering sciences. In 2019, she began studying under renowned Odesa artist Volodymyr Kostiantynovych Krania, a lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts at the Odesa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Her first solo exhibition took place in Chișinău in the summer of 2022, followed by another in Odesa in December of the same year. To date, Olena has held eight solo exhibitions.
What is the first creative moment in your life that you remember?
Ever since I was little, I loved drawing. To me, it was pure magic. Even now, I remember the smell of the watercolors from my childhood. Most of all, I loved drawing cartoon characters. Later, as an adult, I would return to drawing periodically during difficult moments in my life; it was like art therapy. I began pursuing art seriously after I turned 30, when I realized I couldn’t live without bringing my creative ideas to life and creating my own reality.
What is your creative ambition?
For me, creativity is a form of alternative reality. But this reality doesn’t exist in isolation — it can change the real world around us. I love giving my work away as gifts, despite the widespread belief that doing so diminishes its value. I do not see it that way. Creativity exists to make the world better and people happier. If I can achieve even a little of that through my paintings, that is my main creative ambition. We cannot always change the world on a global scale, but we can change the world around us. And if everyone makes the people around them even a little happier, then the total amount of happiness in the world will increase. When my pediatrician friend tells me children stop crying while looking at my work in her office, I feel my life and art are achieving their main purpose — making the world a better place.
What stands in the way of achieving your creative ambitions?
I always have a lot of ideas, both creative and engineering-related, but I do not always have enough time to bring them to life. So I write them all down. Sometimes I return to one of them several years later. Some ideas are still waiting for their time. Sometimes, while I am reading, vivid images appear in my mind. If I don’t have time to develop them, I make a note so I don’t lose them. That is how some of my illustrations are born.
How do you start your day?
I have two sons, and like any mother, my day begins with getting them ready for school. For a complete night owl who often works on creative ideas at night, this is a particularly challenging task (smiles).
Which creative figures do you admire most?
Of course, I have always admired artists of the past — Velázquez, Goya, Caravaggio, Titian, and, among the Impressionists, Monet, Renoir, Fechin, and Serov. But in the present day, I am deeply impressed by the work of Volodymyr Heorhiiovych Polnobrodskyi, who conveys his characters’ moods and emotions with great skill. His works have always stood out for their depth of meaning.
Is there someone in your life who constantly inspires you?
Yes. My teacher, Volodymyr Kostiantynovych Krania, always supported me and believed that everything would work out well for me on my creative path. His encouragement stayed with me during moments when I began to doubt myself and my abilities.
How would you define a muse? And who is your muse?
In my view, a muse is not always a person. It is something much broader and deeper — a subtle state of mind in which ordinary things begin to speak the language of art. Inspiration can come from the phenomena that surround us and from moments of existence that sometimes pass unnoticed: music, light filtering beautifully through autumn leaves, reflections on water in the sunlight, rain outside the window. These are the things that make us stop and listen to life itself.
How do you react when you encounter someone of exceptional intelligence or talent?
I am always interested in profound and talented people. In that sense, I have been fortunate, because somehow I have always found myself surrounded by creative and talented people: artists, writers, poets, musicians. I also often notice a “domino effect” in art — when one person’s creativity inspires others. I recently had an interesting experience: the poet Oleksandr Drozdov wrote a poem inspired by one of my drawings, and then the well-known musician and performer Larysa Sokolska composed music for his poem, and that is how a wonderful song was born. My dissertation was in a technical field, but it was based on the Pareto principle — a fundamental concept in multi-criteria optimization whose applications extend far beyond purely technical disciplines. In simplified terms, it can be described like this: someone becomes better off without anyone else becoming worse off. I try to build my interactions with other people according to this principle as well.
How do you act when you encounter obstacles on the road to success or face the threat of failure?
I have a life principle: “done is better than perfect”, so I generally regard obstacles as experience. Life has taught me that things can always be done better, but sometimes it is not only the result that matters — the journey toward it matters too. Life passes, and the ending is the same for everyone. What matters is being happy and enjoying what you choose to fill your life with.
What does mastery mean to you?
For me, mastery is not simply a high level of skill in one’s craft or technical perfection. It is true artistry, backed by years of hard work, self-discipline, and endless searching. It balances inner substance and form, idea and execution. Mastery means constantly striving for perfection.
What is your greatest dream?
My most cherished dream is quite naïve — world peace. We often dream about personal things: success, professional achievements, a comfortable home, or the fulfillment of our own plans. But all these dreams lose their meaning when explosions are heard around us, people are suffering, and entire lives are being destroyed.
Over the past decade, what has changed in Ukraine?
There have been so many changes all over the world lately, and in Ukraine there have been more than almost anywhere else.
What would you like to change in your hometown?
My native Odesa is a unique city with its own character, culture, and art. Even now, life there is vibrant: exhibitions and concerts continue despite the constant danger. So I would very much like there to be more life and less danger.
Is there a phrase that guides you through life?
Done is better than perfect
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