Before the Words - Inspired by Caleb Landry Jones: Modern figurative portraiture, 2025

Nastya Prairie  

Nastya Prairie is a contemporary figurative artist based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her practice is rooted in classical academic training and focused on psychological portraiture that explores inner tension, emotional depth, and the fragile boundary between appearance and inner truth.

She completed a 17-month academic program in painting and drawing under the guidance of instructors trained at the Ilya Repin Academy of Arts. This education formed a strong figurative foundation and a deep sensitivity to gesture, light, and emotional nuance. Nastya also holds a degree in Graphic Design from the Polytechnic University in Saint Petersburg, which contributes to her compositional clarity and visual precision.

In 2022, she participated in Saint Petersburg Art Week, where she received two awards: first place in the “Folklore Motifs" category for and second place in the “Esoterica" category for . That same year, her work was presented at the exhibition at the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Her solo exhibition was held in India in 2024. In 2025, her work was featured in international group exhibitions, including the KalaKaksh Art Center in Indore, India, and at the State Museum of Urban Sculpture in Saint Petersburg. Nastya's work has also been featured in (Netherlands).

Working primarily in oil, Nastya Prairie creates paintings as spaces of pause and introspection. She is currently developing a new series titled , in which classical beauty is reinterpreted through modern emotional tension, inner conflict, and expressive impulse.