"Frida wearing a blue necklace and blue earrings" ( Frida Kahlo) Painting

Natalya is a contemporary artist from Lyon, France. She was born and grew up in Kazakhstan, the country known for its spacious steppes and low mountains. She arrived in France 2003. Since that moment she loves her adoptive country. She started painting in 2017 and used it as a therapeutic and emotional release during times of crisis when she was struggling with radical life changes. She incorporates this therapeutic approach in her artistic creative process till now. Several years ago painting became more than a hobby. It became a way of expressing her emotions and visions, a successive reaction to events of either personal or general concern. As an artist and as a woman in her art she translates the experience of her personal search for balance and the importance of taking responsibility for her own resources. For her, balance is based on harmony between mind, soul and body. It is this balance, in her opinion, that is the pillar for the inner adult. This balance is the generator of our own energy. Having this energy, we can share it with the world. Important components of her work are soulfulness, sincerity, emotionality and honesty. She immerses the objects and characters of her work in a world where there is no falsity, rudeness, loneliness and indifference. Natalya refers to the terms of metamodernism, which proposes to look at the world from the position of the inner adult who takes the resposibility for his/her actions and deeds. Natalya says: “ I paint as it’s a necessity for my soul to express itself. Being creative for me is overcoming the restrictions. My art is a piece of my soul. I hope my art inspires reflection, provides a release and forms connection at other people’s souls”. Natalya has developed her own vision of art through practicing a lot. She makes use of varying degrees of semi-abstract, impressionism, brut art and naive art by adding a contemporary twist. Painting for her is an interesting challenge for understanding inner feelings, a self-expression based on an intuitive approach. She uses various mediums but mainly acrylic, oil paints and oil sticks to create her unique artworks either on canvas or on paper. She works very quickly and expressively by finishing her artwork in one sitting. Her big sources of inspirations are Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, George-Daniel de Monfreid, Paul Gauguin and undeniably Vincent Van Gogh. She also admires the artworks of Joan Mitchell and Banksy.