Biggest Secret Drawing

Based in New Zealand, Ilya Volykhine is a critically acclaimed figurative artist. His extensive list of accolades includes being a finalist in the 2023 Molly Morpeth Canaday Award, a finalist in the 2016 Adam Portraiture Award, as well as in the 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021 Walker and Hall Art Awards, where he has won for his figurative art. His international achievements include work in the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Blake Prize for Religious Art, the Jacaranda Drawing Prize in Australia, as well as the Imago Mundi New Zealand Consciousness Collection in Italy. Ilya was born in the USSR, and he and his family have lived all over the world; he has exhibited and held residencies across the globe, from New York to Estonia. Since moving to New Zealand in 2009, Ilya has exhibited throughout the country in both solo and group exhibitions. His artwork also features in numerous private, public, and corporate collections worldwide. Ilya Volykhine’s paintings are darkly comic and sometimes poetic. The characters within his pictures battle through the anxieties and joys of life, and his narratives are loose, playful, and chaotic. At the core of his work is Volykhine’s intuitive process—his confidence and willingness to let the story unfold as he paints. His expressive brushwork creates space for his characters to breathe and take on a life yet unexplored.