Artist Nelya Akimova paints striking images that are reminiscent of her Siberian homeland in winter. Akimova states that in her paintings, she attempts to capture the vastness and purity of Siberia’s snowy expanses that exist in contrast to the commanding presence of its modern concrete architecture. Primarily working in oil and incorporating a texture paste to the surface of her canvases, Akimova is able to create a rugged quality within her compositions that are reminiscent of concrete.
Before her decision to focus on creating art full-time, Akimova enjoyed a successful career working in the pharmaceutical industry. She felt called, however, to live a life beyond the stability and predictability that she had become accustomed to. Moving to Prague was the beginning of a new chapter in her life when she began working on her first collection of paintings. Akimova works using an intuitive process, applying paint to the canvas without a preconceived idea of how the composition will evolve; figures emerge out of the white expanses of paint, forming elegant simplicity through implementing a minimalist palette and strong contrast between light and dark.
