Inspiration
I use various media to create series of works channeling my excessive emotional energy onto the surface and allowing to escape from reality without leaving the studio.
The subject matter is often to lift the weight of existence and find a thread that pulls you forward to evolve and change yourself or your attitude towards challenging circumstances in life.
Inspiration comes within. The final outcome of the artwork is often uncertain. Where do you draw a last line is existential to every piece I consider finished. It starts with need to lock myself in the studio room and find way to the outer places within.
Little bit about me
Yuliya was born in 1980 in Soviet Kazakhstan, into a family of civil engineers.
She grew up between an industrial desert town on the Caspian Sea and the pine tree lined lakes of Northern borders.
The oldest of two sisters, she began formal art school training at age 10.
After the collapse of the Soviet state, she won a scholarship to one of the top law schools in the capital, Almaty. Upon graduation, however, Kazakhstan had introduced strict native language requirements to practice law, effectively closing that door.
She completed a MBA at an English-taught top school in Almaty before returning to her hometown, where the booming oil and gas industry welcomed her skills.
In 2005, Yuliya moved to Aberdeen with an engineering firm, and later to London, working across the energy sector with international companies.
Following the 2008 financial downturn, she stepped back from oil industry contracting to pursue full-time legal studies once again. She earned a Master's in Law (Dispute Resolution) from Queen Mary University of London and completed the GDL conversion course at BPP School of Law. Then went on to work in wealth management until 2015 — when Yuliya decided it was time to follow her artistic calling.
With relentless working hours put in her practice, she quickly developed a distinct style and reputation with online galleries. She became known as the Paper Plane Girl at artist led fairs and shows as her large watercolours and cloud-filled surfaces told the story of a small paper plane defying fragility and rising above.
Opulent cloudscapes pushed her work into semi-abstract territory — vast, powerful, and quietly defiant Yuliya loved working with hard to control fluid mediums. An inspiring story of an independent female artist from a small desert town.
Supporting her partner's career choices, Yuliya lived between two homes: Moscow and London in 2017 - 2019 pausing artistic exposure in the UK.
Upon return, she leveled up joining a thriving creative community at Wimbledon and Delta House art studios in Earlsfield, London.
During turbulent COVID years she became a mother and moved with her little family to a lovely countryside in Caversham, Berkshire, where they lovingly renovated their home.
Today, Yuliya's practice has grown well beyond cloudscapes with such collections as Blue Bay, La Femme Nuage and House of Eden taking center stage in weaving new narratives of her unmistakably striking visual language. She refuses to be confined to a single direction, weaving semi-abstract series together with a signature luminous quality and sense of wonder. She works across canvas, paper, and wood, has presented a conceptual solo show at a contemporary museum in Henley-upon-Thames, and regularly participates in major art fairs and gallery exhibitions — working actively with collectors and advisors internationally.
[exhibitions]
[ corporate display ]
2026
Caversham Art Trail, Open Studios, 9-10, 16-17 May
Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, Tom Cox, May
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, Tom Cox, March
Cheltenham Art Fair, Racecourse, Adlib, Apr
London Art Fair x DA Gallery, Jan
Fresh Art Fair,London, Adlib Gallery, Jan
Contemporary Collective, Bankside Hotel Art Residency,
2025
Cube Gallery, Christmas Show, W1H, Marylebone, London
Adlib Gallery (Blue Bay) - Wimbledon Village, London, SW19, ongoing
Mancnhester Art Fair, Adlib Gallery
DA Gallery, Bankside Hotel, White Cube, Group show
Henley Arts Festival, Old Fire Station Art Gallery, Jul
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, Tom Cox Art Gallery, Mar
River & Rowing Museum, Solo Feb
2024
River & Rowing Museum, Solo Dec
HUNTSMAN, Savile Raw, Mayfair Art Week, Jun-Jul
Henley Arts Trail, Oxfordshire May 04-06
Neptune Stores, Reading, Apr 13-14
Thames Lido, Solo, Whatever the weather, Apr 2024
Three, Tom Cox Art Gallery, Arp 04-14
Affordable Art Fair Battersea , Tom Cox Mar 06-10 (sold out)
Singul Art, Stuttgart Show Room, Germany
2023
The Other Art Fair Truman Brewery
The Art Buyer Gallery, Thames Ditton, Surrey
Tom Cox Gallery, Summer Show, London
Oct 2021 The Other Art Fair
Apr 2020 Best Sold Artist of All Times Saatchi Art
Apr 2020 Infinity Room, White Box Gallery, Bankside Hotel London
Oct 2019 Affordable Art Fair Battersea, Degree Art
Oct 2019 RVP Gallery, Wilmslow, Manchester
Oct 2019 Open Studios Delta House, Wimbledon
Aug 2019 the Auction Collective, Bankside Hotel, London
Jul 2019 Henley Regatta & Art Festival, Art Elite
Mar 2019 The Other Art Fair, London
Sep - Dec 2018 Interio 22, Art Play, Moscow
Mar 2018 The Other Art Fair, Holborn, London, UK
Dec-Jan 2018 Cass Art Exhibition Flag Store & Rise Art, Islington, London
Oct 2017 The Other Art Fair, London
Sep 2017 The Frame show by Saatchi Art + Samsung,
London, Clerkenwell Design Week
Sep 2017 Decorative Art Fair, Battersea Park, London
2017 - 2019 Catherine Miller Art Gallery, Chelsea, London
Apr 2017 The Other Art Fair, London
Nov-Dec 2016 Aubergine Gallery, Wimbledon, London
Nov 2016 Edinburg Art Fair, represented by Gaudi Gallery, Madrid
Nov 2016 solo, Art Gallery 657 Studio, Fulham Rd, London #Flyingsolo
2016 Cover page - Saatchi Art Autumn 2016 Printed Catalogue
Aug 2016 Hoxton Arches, London, with Meet the Artists
Feb 2016 Whitechappel Gallery, London, First Thursdays by Creative Debuts
Jan-Mar 2016 Hoxton Hotel Gallery, Holborn, London, Creative Debuts
Jan 2016 Art Room 2016, Melia White House Hotel, London
Dec 2015 Maze Art OXO Tower Barge House, London
Oct 2015 Wells Art Contemporary 2015, Somerset, UK
Apr - Jan 2016 Artist of the Day (twice), Inside the Studio, Saatchi Art
July - Sep 2015 solo , Mathew’s Yard Caffe & Art Gallery, Croydon
Jan 2023-26 represented by ARTIQ, multiple high end London City offices
Feb 2021 Park Hyatt Aviara 5*, Florida
Nov 2020 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York
Apr 2020 Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Chicago
Jul 2019 Spirit of Discovery Luxury Cruise-ship, SAGA
Jan 2018 Timbers Kauai Hawaii - with Eaton Fine Art, Blue Bay for new built hotel
Mar - Jun 2016 Oliver, (Marketing Agency) Old St, London, with Creative Debuts
Feb - May 2016 Black + White Offices, Shoreditch, London, with Creative Debuts
Feb - Jun 2016 20 Canada Square, City of London (Property Developer)
July 14 - May 2015 Werner Capital (Property Developer), Belgravia, London
Apr - Oct 2013 Bonas MacFarlane (Educational Consultancy), Battersea, London
[ on the big screen & TV ]
Nov 2016 Mar 2016
Doctor Strange, Marvel movie, 2 artworks for the filming set decoration
US Drama Scandal, from episode 515, series since 2012, ABC studios
