Anastasiia Kurkova

I am a Ukrainian contemporary artist, born in 2000 and based in Kraków, Poland. I am the creator of Emochromism, an artistic system in which colour functions as both an emotional and structural element of painting. At its core is the belief that colour shapes not only how we see the world, but how we experience it.

I grew up in Mariupol, Ukraine, the hometown of Arkhip Kuindzhi. The Sea of Azov, intense orange sunsets and remarkably golden autumns shaped my early perception of colour and landscape, while Kuindzhi’s particular attention to light became an important early influence. I began working with oil paint at thirteen and started exhibiting the following year.

I studied painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv, where I developed a strong academic foundation. During my second year, I studied in the Landscape Painting Studio associated with the legacy of Vasyl Zabashta, where Ihor Melnychuk, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Restoration, became an important mentor. His approach to plein-air painting and colour had a lasting influence on my artistic development.

My artistic language was further shaped by Ukrainian painting traditions, particularly the expressive use of colour in the Transcarpa...

I received my Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA) in Kyiv in 2022, specializing in Monumental Painting, followed by a Master's Degree in Fine Arts in 2023.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

2026 — Muzeum Krakowa, Pałac Krzysztofory, Kraków, Poland, October–November

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 — Color Rhapsody, Taras Shevchenko House-Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine

2020 — The Color of the Soul, State Library of Ukraine for Youth, Kyiv, Ukraine

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025–2026 — Art Gallery 36, Kraków, Poland

2024 — Young Art 78, Exhibition and Auction, Pragaleria, Warsaw, Poland

2023–2024 — Galeria Ogrodowa, Kraków, Poland

2021 — The Best Artist 2021, Closing Exhibition, Vinnytsia, Ukraine

2021 — The Best Artist 2021, Plein-Air Exhibition, Zhytomyr, Ukraine

2021 — Sophiiskyi Plein Air 2021, Zaborovsky Gate, National Reserve “Sophia of Kyiv”, Kyiv, Ukraine

2021 — 150th Anniversary of Lesya Ukrainka, National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine

2019 — Summer Practice Exhibition, National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, National Reserve “Sophia of Kyiv”, Kyiv, Ukraine

2015 — Kuindzhi Center of Contemporary Art and Culture, Mariupol, Ukraine

2014 — Kuindzhi Center of Contemporary Art and Culture, Mariupol, Ukraine