About
1988: Born and raised in the countryside of Moscow, Russia
Currently lives and works between Barcelona and Moscow
Education
2018 - 2019: MA Anthropology, University College London
2005 - 2010: BA Sociology, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Short courses
2023: Long pose drawing, Barcelona Academy of Art
2019: Foundation course, London Fine Arts Studios
Selected exhibitions
On the Other Way, September 18 - 21, 2025, Hub/Art, Carrer del Dr. Trueta 183, Barcelona, Spain
Poles of one summer, August 8 - 29, 2025. A-House, Moscow, Russia
Works On Paper 7, May 10, 2025. Blue Shop Galleries, SW9 6BH, London, UK
Tales of Xenophobia. Les Autres..., October 9 - 31, 2024. 31 rue de Turenne, Paris, France
Summer Exhibition, June 18 - August 18, 2024. Royal Academy of Arts, London
Emergence, June 2023. Visionary Art Collective, NYC, USA
Anya Antonova, La Digue as part of Art-Space-Hopping. July 7 - 31, 2022 Krivokolenny 9/3, Moscow, Russia
Art Fairs and special projects
May 26 - 28, 2023 — Port Art Fair, Sevkabel Port, Kozhevennaya Liniya, 40, St Petersburg, Russia
September 14 - 18, 2022 — Blazar Young Art Fair, 2022, Moscow City Museum, Russia
Residencies
La Botanica, March - June, 2023, Barcelona, Spain
Artist statement
I am a figurative painter working primarily in oil and watercolor. With a background in sociology and anthropology, my practice explores human relationships, personal and family archeology, touching on themes of belonging, identity, and loneliness. I create psychologically charged portraits and inhabited landscapes, using painting as a way to examine how we relate to ourselves and to one another.
Process and materiality play a central role in my practice. Across the two mediums, I am interested in the contrast: my oil paintings are carefully planned, while with watercolor I embrace accidents. I approach painting intuitively, embracing chance, material response, and inverted colour as integral parts of the image-making process.
Biography
Anya Antonova is a figurative painter, born and raised in Moscow region. She studied sociology and anthropology in Moscow and London, and worked in cultural management and fundraising before turning to art in 2020. In 2023, she completed training at the Barcelona Academy of Art.
Anya’s practice explores human relationships and self-discovery, touching on themes of belonging, identity, and loneliness. Working primarily in oil and watercolor, she creates psychologically charged portraits and inhabited landscapes that examine how we relate to ourselves and to one another. While her oil paintings are carefully planned, in watercolor she embraces accidents and unpredictability, allowing chance, material response, and inverted colour to become part of the image-making process.
Anya’s work has been shown internationally in Paris, New York, and London, including the 2024 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and Works On Paper 7 at Blue Shop Galleries, London.
Press
Where beauty is created: in Anya Antonova's studio in Moscow. Gathering (obdn.ru), April 2025
Flower in the brain,Blumenhaus magazine, April 2024
‘How I spent my summer’,Sample, 2023
‘Anya Antonova among participants of Port Art Fair’, Sobaka, 2023
’Part of a landscape’ solo show by Anya Antonova,
The Vanderlust, 2023
Cultobzor, 2023
‘Highlights of Blazar young art fair’, Art Flash Magazine, 2022
‘Blazar contemporary art fair has announced the list of participants’
The Blueprint, 2022
Buro, 2022
‘Top 3 artsits at Blazar young art fair’, Tatyana Stolyar, 2022, Antigloss Telegram Channel
‘Top 9 artsits at Blazar young art fair’
Alexander Radaev, 2022, Parnasskiy peresmeshnik Telegram Channel
‘La Digue by Anna Antonova at Krivokolenny 9/3’
Art-Space-Hopping Festival
Portfolio request