BIO
Yulia Katkova (b. 1986, Tashkent) is a Lima-based visual artist working across oil, watercolor, and acrylic. Her figurative paintings construct psychological environments where the female figure—often her own—operates as both subject and observer.
Set within nocturnal cityscapes, open horizons, or intimate interiors, her work navigates the tension between external space and internal state. These are not portraits in the traditional sense, but controlled compositions where stillness, fragmentation, and presence coexist.
Her practice unfolds through long-term series including Tokyo Nights, In Front of the Endless Ocean, The Familiar, and Still You (Tú en Objetos), each extending an ongoing investigation into perception, displacement, and the boundaries of self.
Rather than offering narrative resolution, her paintings create space—for pause, recognition, and quiet confrontation.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I work through figurative painting as a way of constructing psychological space.
The female figure—most often my own—functions not as a self-portrait in the traditional sense, but as a constant: a point of presence within shifting environments. Urban nightscapes, open landscapes, and interior spaces become extensions of an inner state rather than fixed locations.
My process is deliberate and immersive. I approach painting slowly, building layers through oil, watercolor, and acrylic, allowing precision and atmosphere to develop together. The act of painting becomes a way of stabilizing something that is otherwise fluid—perception, identity, emotion.
I’m not interested in resolving these states. Instead, I construct moments where stillness and tension coexist—where the figure appears grounded, yet slightly displaced.
Each series I develop is a continuation of this inquiry. Not a conclusion, but a refinement of the same question: how to hold presence within an environment that is constantly shifting.
