Iryna Yermolova

St. Tropez - original abstract figurative oil painting - contemporary artwork

2025

Ukranian Iryna Yermolova was born in 1978. She is a contemporary painter of fluid, luminous and intuitive figurative artworks on canvas and moved to the UK in 2005. Her career began in an entirely different sphere: economics and graphic design. She credits oil painting with entirely transforming her life and outlook, allowing her to explore sensations that words and numbers can only hint at. She currently lives and works in Dorset. Combining her Ukrainian upbringing with a creative drive inspired by the English countryside, Iryna Yermolova presents bold yet sensitive studies with a confident style and striking use of light and colour. In her most recent body of work, her powerful imagery is greatly influenced by her formative years and the iconography surrounding orthodox religion; dreamlike compositions of youthful figures merge with the inner-self and ideas surrounding identity, culture and myth as well as a more personal journey, that of an artist, mother and woman. Her seductive portraits feature powerful brushwork and effortless integrity. Real, fleeting moments are imbued with emotion in each stroke of oil paint. The artist is more likely to reach for a palette knife than her brushes and enjoys experimenting with texture and mixed media. With a background in graphic design, the subject of her pieces becomes secondary importance as she prioritises creating a harmonious composition and colour scheme. These undulating studies appear to unravel as the viewer tries to grasp the image, engaging with themes of ephemerality and transience. A regular exhibitor at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ annual show at the Mall Galleries in London, she has been an integral member of the Paragon stable for seven years. “Painting is a kind of meditation for me, time to be with myself and my thoughts. It helps me analyse certain things and not react as badly as I could. I’ve learned how to deal with certain negative things through the painting process.” – Iryna Yermolova