Artworks by Yuliia Ustymenko

I’m a Ukrainian artist working primarily in oil, exploring the expressive possibilities of colour, texture, and unexpected ideas. My practice moves between abstraction and figurative painting, with experimentation and a touch of wit at its core.

In my abstract works, I play with rich pigments, expressive brushwork, structural paste, and gold leaf to explore light, depth, and texture.

Humour finds its way into my figurative work, too. In my Great Pugs series, I reimagined iconic art history portraits with pugs as their unlikely protagonists, giving familiar masterpieces an absurd and playful twist.

I’m drawn to the moment when a painting surprises you — when a colour combination feels unexpectedly right, an abstract form stirs something hard to name, or a familiar image makes you smile for a new reason. That’s when a painting becomes more than an image: it becomes an experience of your own.