Katya Kvasova

Katya Kvasova is a painter whose practice explores the conventions of portraiture as a means to express an emotional state. Focusing on the female form, she creates a narrative between the figurative elements of her subject, and the abstracted background of her paintings. The connection between these two elements allows her to convey the tension between the exterior mask that individuals often present to the world, and the contrasting depth and vulnerability of their interior thoughts.



Her paintings seem to be private moments; each piece has its own character and mood. In her body of work ‘Emotional Spaces’ her series of paintings looks into their subject’s subconscious mind, imagining their feelings. The key to understanding is not in the subject’s façade they present but what is hidden behind it. She uses the traditional medium of oil painting to depict her women, whose faces tend to be highly detailed and tightly painted. The direction of their gaze differs throughout the series but they are always deep in thought. The style of painting loosens as it moves across their bodies and through their clothes, to gradually merge and abstract into their environment. Although the marks used in the background are abstract, they rea...

Academy of Architecture, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 1999-2000

Intensive academic drawing and painting courses in Riga (Latvia), St. Petersburg (Russia) and Rostov-on-Don (Russia) 1997-1999

Riga Art School 1995-1997

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Taylor St Baristas, City of London, UK

2013 Taylor St Baristas, Canary Wharf, UK

2005 “Shadows and Tall Trees” Columbus, Ohio, USA

2003 “Little People” Rostov-on-Don, Russia



GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015 Electric Open Exhibition, Cheshire, UK

2010 Lightbox Gallery, Woking, UK

2010 Untitled Art Fair, London, UK



PRIZES/AWARDS/COMPETITIONS

2013 shortlisted for Painted Faces Saatchi online competition