Oleg Zayka's painting always was and continues to be about everything that surrounds us. In the poor and hungry 1980s he painted "portraits" of such essentials as toilet paper, or tins of condensed milk, or the most democratic Soviet snack tinned salad made of sea kale. In 1990, during the computerization of the entire country, there was “Three Comrades” — electric leads stuck haphazardly into a three plug adaptor. In parallel, the birth and development of children are dealt with in the two new series: "Gymnastics for Pregnant Women" and "Toy Robots"...Oleg Zaika's painting, which began at the end of the Soviet history, is interesting because it contains a gloomy Russian asceticism, like a current run through with absurd fun in the spirit of the "New Artists". It's fun — a spontaneous response to the various grimaces of life that the artist perceives picturesquely, as a living play with form.
Ekaterina Andreeva, exhibition curator