Flora Yukhnovich, the British artist known for her large-scale gestural paintings, has achieved remarkable success over the past decade by creating works that blur the lines between classical art traditions and contemporary digital culture. Her paintings, which combine references to art historical movements from Rococo to Abstract Expressionism with modern digital aesthetics, have captured the attention of collectors worldwide, with her auction record reaching $2.7 million at Sotheby's in 2022.
The artist recently relocated from London to New York, fulfilling a long-held dream inspired by her childhood spent watching 1990s television shows and films set in the city. This move coincides with two major US exhibitions: a commission at The Frick Collection in New York and a solo show at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, marking significant milestones in her international career.
Yukhnovich's distinctive artistic approach reflects how people experience art in the digital age. "Art-historical references are interesting to me because they remind me of something contemporary, and most of the contemporary stuff I see is through my phone or on screens," she explained. Her paintings often appear pixelated or glitchy, deliberately mimicking the way images look when viewed on digital devices. She works between traditional canvas and digital tools like her iPad and phone, where she creates digital collages that inform her paintings.
The artist's creative process begins with mood boards, a technique she has used since her teenage years. These collections of images from various sources and time periods help her explore unexpected relationships between different visual elements. "For me, the mood boards throw up questions that my paintings can try and answer," she said. Her camera roll contains a random assortment of images that might inform her next work, reflecting the constant visual bombardment of modern life.
Currently, Yukhnovich is experiencing what she calls a "full love affair" with 18th-century French Rococo painter François Boucher. This obsession has culminated in her commission for The Frick Collection, where she has created wall coverings that respond to Boucher's "Four Seasons" (1775). The work will be installed in the Cabinet Gallery, with painted sections fitted above the dado rail and brocade trim to make them appear as part of the architecture.
For this Frick commission, Yukhnovich drew inspiration from portal fantasies like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," as well as "The Yellow Wallpaper," exploring the idea of passing into different realms. She researched panoramic wallpapers by French manufacturers Zuber & Cie and De Gournay, Victorian fairy paintings, and images of imps and goblins to create what she describes as "a cacophony of lots of different things that feel almost too much to take in."
The artist's upcoming exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles will feature eight to ten large-scale paintings exploring themes of digital overwhelm and chaos. The show draws inspiration from the concept of doom scrolling and "our digital descent into chaos," connecting this modern experience to ancient Roman Bacchanalia festivals. Yukhnovich has been studying Roman architecture, French academic painting, Hollywood imagery, and advertising to create works that reflect contemporary society's bombardment by visual information.
Yukhnovich's year in New York has been transformative, though she notes it took time to adjust to her new environment. Initially wanting to make dramatically different work, she found herself creating pieces that served as "a bit of a refuge" while she adapted to her new surroundings. She believes her recent works have become "slightly more immediate" and possess "some of that New York gutsiness," though the full impact of the move on her practice may take more time to become apparent.
The artist's success reflects a broader trend in the contemporary art market's enthusiasm for ultra-contemporary painting. However, Yukhnovich prefers to focus on the conceptual aspects of her work rather than market performance, stating that "the work is so much more interesting" than auction results. Her paintings successfully navigate between abstraction and figuration, creating what she calls a "not-quiteness" that gives them their distinctive digital feel.
Born in Norwich, UK in 1990, Yukhnovich studied at Kingston University, Heatherley School of Fine Art, and City & Guilds of London Art School. Her recent exhibitions have included shows at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, The Wallace Collection in London, and Ordrupgaard in Denmark. She is represented by galleries Hauser & Wirth and Victoria Miro, with her current exhibitions running through early 2026.
