ARTIST STATEMENT
Rooted in personal experience, my paintings depict vulnerability not as a weakness, but as a source of strength — a force capable of transforming pain into forward momentum.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is an exploration of the fragility of the human spirit within a world full of pressure and stigma.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Through metaphorical images of women immersed in wild nature — a symbol of uncontrollable forces — I investigate themes of mental health, substance dependency, the weight of social standards, and codependency.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The figures in my paintings are often nude or draped in sheer fabrics, underscoring their vulnerability, but also their openness to inner transformation.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The work poses essential questions: How can we embrace our own vulnerability? How do we step out of the shadow of shame and stereotype? How can we find beauty within difficult emotional states and destructive experiences?
Emotional palette
Color is not decoration here. It is pressure, water, skin, and shelter.
toskaToska
A suspended ache: water, lilies, and a face held inside the memory of what cannot be reached.
fearFear
Branches press close, but the gaze stays present; fear becomes a surface that can be seen.
rootsRooted
A body held by growth instead of shame.
tendernessStill Tender
A tenderness that has survived contact.
safetyYou Are Safe
Safety appears as a protected message, not a decorative comfort.
hopeNadezhda
Hope appears small, but not weak.
A route through the work
Vulnerability is not hidden here. It becomes material.
enter through water, glass, pressure
The Shards
Paintings where pain becomes material: water, glass, texture paste, metal leaf, and figures caught between pressure and emergence.
waterliliesbranchesglass chips
follow roots, flowers, body
Women's Nature
Bodies and botanical force: tenderness, roots, blooming, warmth, and survival inside wild growth.
rootsflowersskin-toned lightmetal leaf
stand with withheld speech
Censored
Works where the description is withheld and the image carries what cannot be safely stated.
redactiondark gallerycovered textprotected meaning
return through studies and light
Other Works
Studies, landscapes, small works, and accessible entry points into recurring motifs.
watercolorpaperUral landscapeivy
ABOUT ARTIST
YUNA. Yuliana Popova
Russian figurative artist
She was born in 1995 in the village of Palyanovo in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
In 2005, she and her family moved to the Ural region. In 2013, she began her studies at the I.D. Shadr Sverdlovsk Art College, majoring in Easel Painting, and graduated in 2017.
After graduating, she moved to Khanty-Mansiysk, where she taught academic drawing, painting, and composition, and also created sets and decorations for school events.
In 2019, she relocated to Saint Petersburg, where she began experimenting with various techniques, materials, and genres.
From 2020 to 2022, she focused on selling her paintings to the international market. More than 40 of her works are held in private collections across the United States, Europe, and Australia.
In 2020, she took part in establishing "Khudozhka.Online," the first licensed online art school in Russia. And worked there as a teacher of academic drawing until the fall of 2025.
In the winter of 2024, she shifted her focus from teaching back to her personal artistic practice, during which she developed and defined her unique authorial style.
Currently, she works as a painter at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Saint Petersburg. Alongside her work at the factory, she is developing several series of paintings and continues to refine and perfect her artistic style.
Emotional map
The paintings are states
Choose the state that follows you.
toskaToskaA suspended ache: water, lilies, and a face held inside the memory of what cannot be reached.2024 / The Shards
fearFearBranches press close, but the gaze stays present; fear becomes a surface that can be seen.2025 / The Shards
devastationDevastationA surface after impact, where what remains is still able to hold light.2024 / The Shards
safetyYou Are SafeSafety appears as a protected message, not a decorative comfort.2022 / Censored
hopeNadezhdaHope appears small, but not weak.2023 / Other Works
tendernessStill TenderA tenderness that has survived contact.2022 / Women's Nature
Material vocabulary
Water, glass, leaf, skin, pressure
Water, glass, leaf, skin, pressure
Choose the state that follows you
7 works
The Shards
Paintings where pain becomes material: water, glass, texture paste, metal leaf, and figures caught between pressure and emergence.
vulnerability / grief / fear / toska / transformation4 worksWomen's Nature
Bodies and botanical force: tenderness, roots, blooming, warmth, and survival inside wild growth.
body / nature / tenderness / growth / courage5 worksCensored
Works where the description is withheld and the image carries what cannot be safely stated.
stigma / censorship / shame / safety / withheld speech8 worksOther Works
Studies, landscapes, small works, and accessible entry points into recurring motifs.
hope / memory / study / quiet / growth
exhibitions
press
exhibitions
“Scars That Became Light”, interactive art space Futurione Emotions, St. Petersburg, Russia
“Essence”, Molbert Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
“The Soul Abhors a Vacuum”, Ra Art Gallery, State Museum of Urban Sculpture, St. Petersburg, Russia
“GENESIS 6. Birth of an Idea”, Ra Art Gallery, St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (SUAI), St. Petersburg, Russia
“281st Anniversary of the Imperial Porcelain Factory”, Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg, Russia
International online exhibition-competition “Outsiders”, Cross Currents Gallery, Top 5 Finalist
press
Afisha (lifestyle & culture magazine)
Kultura Peterburga (St. Petersburg culture outlet)
Komsomolskaya Pravda (major Russian newspaper)
BezFormata (media outlet)
Metro (St. Petersburg edition of the international newspaper)
GALLERY
Paintings available for sale
EXIT
45 000 р.There is life to come out of the water for
exitwaterreturn
DEBILITY
52 000 р.The word names weakness; the surface refuses to stay weak.
weaknessstigmasilver light
FEAR
46 000 р.Branches press close, but the gaze stays present; fear becomes a surface that can be seen.
fearbranchespressure
TOSKA
52 000 р.(rus) an untranslatable feeling of missing someone or something you can't quite grasp. The sadness of a lost connection, the ache of being alone with a memory.
toskagriefmemory
DEVASTATION
65 000 р.A surface after impact, where what remains is still able to hold light.
devastationpressurefragility
THE POND OF TEARS
39 000 р.A face at the edge of water, where grief becomes reflection and texture.
tearsgriefreflection
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