Yana Dubinina (Dyana) is a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and a graduate of the Mykhailo Boychuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design (Department of Monumental and Decorative Art). Her works have been exhibited in Kyiv, New York, Taipei, Brussels, Antwerp, Madrid, Paris, Lucerne and Zurich, and in 2026 at Kunsthaus Weiz in Austria. Today her studio and permanent exhibition are located in Küsnacht near Zurich, in the Showroom39 space.
Yana, let's start at the beginning. How did art come into your life?
Art has inspired me since childhood. I was born in Prague in 1979. Although my first degree was in business and finance (I completed it in 2002), drawing was always my passion, and in 2005 I started working in my own studio.
Later I realised that I wanted to master the craft more deeply, and I enrolled at the Boychuk Academy in the Department of Monumental and Decorative Art. I graduated in 2019, already as a practising artist.
Why monumental art in particular?
Volume, large forms and colour are what set my paintings apart. I feel cramped in a small format. Even when I make a series of small works, I always leave the client the option of combining them into one large panel. The monumental school taught me to think about space: a painting is not just a canvas, but also a wall, a room, the atmosphere around it.
You say you think in colours. What does that mean in practice?
When I see people or beautiful places, I see them as bright patches of colour. I have a very good visual memory, and it helps me look for new techniques. My main goal in every project is to let people look at familiar things from a completely different angle. To find true beauty in ordinary objects, events and moments, or in those that exist only in the imagination.
Your style has changed noticeably over time. How would you describe that journey?
Just as a person changes over a lifetime, so did my style, from pop art to something very close to Art Deco. There were abstractions, figurative painting, decorative series. Today I am moving towards my own language: monumental female figures in an ornamental, decorative setting. The closest to it is my large-format series Cocktail.
Who has influenced you as an artist?
I am grateful to Gustav Klimt for ornament and gold, and to Modigliani for line and the elongated, noble figure. Among contemporary artists, I feel close to Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald for the way they combine portraiture with a decorative background and give the sitter dignity. And to Flora Yukhnovich for the boldness with which she reinterprets Rococo today.
What are you working on now?
A new series, “A Troupe of One Actress” (Dramatis Personae). These are monumental portraits of my close friends, each shown in archetypal “roles”, in diptychs and triptychs that reveal several true faces of one person. The visual language is theatrical: arches, staircases, saturated colour. Technically, it is oil painting on wooden panels, and the background is glossy alkyd enamel that I pour around the figures using masking. I am interested in how one woman can be at once the heroine, the muse and the director of her own life.
Besides painting, you create murals, hand-painted clothing, bags, furniture and even humidors. Why should an artist go beyond the canvas?
I want art to be part of life, not just something hanging on a wall. That is why I paint streets, clothing, bags, furniture, steel surfaces: things that accompany a person every day. For five years now I have specialised in painting humidors. It is an intimate, very personal art for collectors. Each such object is a separate story, created for a specific person.
What does your working day in the studio look like?
My studio is my own world, with its own air and mood. Lots of light, music to suit my mood, sometimes podcasts or romantic films in the background. I change into work clothes and begin, and during breaks I drink tea. I bring the idea into the studio already formed: the technique may change along the way, but the idea stays. And I am convinced that the more I myself enjoy the process and the result, the more interesting I am to others.
In 2022 you moved to Zurich. What changed for you as an artist?
Since March 2022 I have lived in Zurich, and my studio is in Küsnacht, at Showroom39, which also houses a permanent exhibition of my works. Switzerland has given me a new audience, new exhibitions (Fame Gallery, Wasserkirche, art3f, Art de Suisse) and new collectors. But my roots remain in Kyiv: I am a Ukrainian artist, and you can sense it in every one of my works.
I love Ukraine and support it with all my heart. I am constantly in touch, I follow all the people who interest me, and of course I miss it terribly. Here in Switzerland I am creating my own Ukrainian world and bringing our aesthetics and creativity into it. And I am sure that in peacetime we will have plenty to talk about.
What advice would you give someone buying an original work for the first time?
Buy with your heart, not with an investor's eyes. A painting should stir an emotion every day as you walk past it. And don't be afraid of scale: a large work changes the space and mood of a room in a way no decor can. And if you are unsure, talk to the artist. We are always happy to tell the story behind a work.
Quick-fire round.
• If you weren't an artist, you would be: - an actress, colouring life with different roles.
• Where you can be found outside the studio: - travelling, in museums, over a glass of good wine.
• Three words about your art: - colour, volume, depth.
What are your plans for the future?
To finish “A Troupe of One Actress” and show it as a complete project. Then to keep developing my language of the monumental female figure in ornament, and, of course, more large formats.
Besides being an artist, you are also a businesswoman and philanthropist, and a partner in the Codeky project, which supports young artists. A competition for students of various art disciplines has appeared on your platform.
- Yes, my partners and I are currently working hard on creating new areas in our online marketplace, including a charity area and a competition for young artists. We hope that our experience and the capabilities of our online platform will help young people feel more confident in the art market and, with our involvement, present their art to the world more actively!