When my Mom Was Young, 2024

Marina Lukianova  

Marina Lukianova (b. Leningrad, Russia) is a contemporary figurative painter currently based in Basel, Switzerland. Born into an artistic family, with a painter and sculptor father as her first teacher, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1996 with a diploma in Architecture-Artist. Her career path has been shaped by a passion for travel and exploration, which led her to live and work in the Netherlands, Italy, and now Switzerland. Alongside her studio practice, she has worked as a landscape architect, illustrator, and interior designer, and for over 25 years has collaborated with M. Egetmeyer on the internationally recognized OH-cards project.

Lukianova works primarily with acrylic and watercolor, creating paintings that celebrate human connection and joy. Inspired by retro photography, she bridges past and present, transforming vintage imagery into vibrant compositions that evoke nostalgia and optimism. She often portrays the human figure in motion or repose, set against brightly tinted, dreamlike landscapes. Her use of washes, neon accents, and bold impressionistic palettes conveys the improvisation and festivity she believes are missing from modern rational life.

Her style fuses figurative clarity with surreal and pop-art influences, using strong linearity, proportion, and vivid color to create an immersive sensory experience. By reimagining fleeting memories of innocence and play, Lukianova's work invites viewers into a space of celebration and reflection, untouched by the accelerating forces of digital culture.

She has exhibited widely in Russia and across Europe, including in Venice, Zürich, Luzern, and Basel, and her works have been featured in Artist Feature Catalogue by Aedra Fine Publishing (2025). Through her art, Lukianova uplifts audiences with images that remind us of the beauty of togetherness, the spirit of festivity, and the timelessness of human emotion.