Anna Kurkova (b. 1994, Belarus) is an artist with practice rooted in painting and printmaking. She earned her MFA from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art (2026) and holds a BA in Visual Arts from New York University and an MA in Art History from the Sorbonne. Kurkova maintains studios in North London and Abu Dhabi, where she serves as visiting faculty on New York University's MFA programme. She recently completed an artist residency with Winsor & Newton and is the recipient of Jackson's Art Prize in Oil Painting (2023) and the Christo Prize (2017).
Anna Kurkova (b. 1994, Belarus) is an artist with practice rooted in painting and printmaking. She earned her MFA from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art (2026) and holds a BA in Visual Arts from New York University and an MA in Art History from the Sorbonne. Kurkova maintains studios in North London and Abu Dhabi, where she serves as visiting faculty on New York University's MFA programme. She recently completed an artist residency with Winsor & Newton and is the recipient of Jackson's Art Prize in Oil Painting (2023) and the Christo Prize (2017).
Kurkova approaches painting as an act of anchoring acute sensations and fragmented memories through mark making. She collages together constructed landscapes inhabited by alter-ego characters and drawing on mythology, iconography, art historical and contemporary references. She frequently works with shaped canvases, making the geometry of the support an integral part of the painting itself.
Straddling painting and printmaking, Kurkova works with both oil and water-based media on canvas and board, while also making extensive use of monotype printmaking. She uses a technique where she paints on a plastic matrix before pressing the image onto paper using an intaglio press. The pressure of the press disperses pigments in unpredictable ways, introducing an element of chance through soft, blurred lines, subtle imperfections, and luminous bleeds of colour.