Nastya Prairie

Nastya Prairie | Wholeness (Boho Series)

Your works are filled with emotion and inner light. How do you transfer internal states onto the canvas?

It usually starts with a feeling. And then the images come — on their own. I feel them speaking to me, as if asking to manifest in this world. Something inside begins to vibrate subtly, asking to be heard — and I just try not to get in the way of it coming out. Sometimes it’s a state of silence, sometimes — of inner rebellion. But always — it’s real. 

I don’t invent what the painting will be like, I feel it. That’s why there is so much light in my works — they are honest, lived-through states of being, translated into color, gesture, image.

Nastya Prairie | Children Of The One God. Friends (The Neo Paraphaelite Series)

You mentioned that the human being is the central theme of your work. How do you choose your subjects?

I care not just about the image, but the essence. I look for people who know how to be themselves. In their gaze — a story, in their posture — vulnerability and strength. Sometimes they are real people I know. Sometimes — an inner image, born from a dream, a memory, a feeling. 

In any case, I search for that spark of life that can’t be faked. Those who commissioned portraits from me often said I didn’t just capture the likeness, but caught something deeper — the energy, the state, the essence. It’s hard to explain in words, but for me, that’s the main thing: to reveal the best, the living, the authentic.

How does your background in ethnography influence your creative process?

Ethnography taught me to feel deeper, to see the layers beneath the surface. I often turn to the symbols, aesthetics, and rituals of different cultures — not for the sake of exoticism, but to remind myself and the viewer how rich and polyphonic human experience is. 

My view of a person always comes with respect for their roots, for that inner silence they were raised in. The history faculty is my alma mater, and I hold it with gratitude. It taught me to be attentive, careful, and not to oversimplify the complex.

Nastya Prairie | I, The Sky, And The Thorns (The Neo Paraphaelite Series)

How do you combine classical influences, like the Pre-Raphaelites, with contemporary themes?

I grew up on the classics, studied with masters of the past — anatomy, sketching, composition. But I live — here and now. The Pre-Raphaelites are close to me: their spirituality, beauty, depth. 

But my subjects are our contemporaries. In their gaze — Spotify, anxiety, self-searching, traces of social media, tired eyes. I simply connect the eternal with the current. Because one without the other is incomplete.

Nastya Prairie | The Choice (Turning Point) The Feeling Series

Your paintings often convey both strength and vulnerability. How do you work with this emotional duality?

Because I live it myself. We are all strong — and at the same time fragile. My characters are not afraid to show it: that’s their strength. I’m drawn to moments of silence, pauses, doubt — those transitional states where a person is most real. I love to paint both at the peak of emotion and in the moment of deep contemplation — when everything stills and only the truth remains. In this aliveness and fragility, I see true beauty.

Nastya Prairie | The Sky Within (The Feeling Series)

Travel and cultural diversity inspire you — can you recall a journey that especially influenced your art?

India. It didn’t just inspire — it changed my sensitivity. The contrast, brightness, the combination of life and death, noise and silence — all this taught me to listen. 

It was there that I first started to paint the way I feel. Without looking back at rules, without fear. In India, my first canvases were born that were filled with freedom. 

I’ve been there seven times already. And I think the eighth is not far off.

In the age of digital noise, your paintings feel especially timeless and deep. What do you want the viewer to feel when looking at your art?

Calm. Connection. Silence. 

I want the person, tired of speed and overload, to suddenly pause. To feel themselves — not with the mind, but with the body. Through breath, through gaze, through emotion. 

My art is not about decor. It’s about a space where you can be real. 

Without a role. Without haste. Just be.

Nastya Prairie | Whispers Of Eternity (Boho Series)

Why did you choose the classical technique of oil painting and not modern media?

From 2012 to 2021, I tried everything — from digital Corel Painter to markers, watercolor, acrylic. But only oil gives me that depth, that physicality and flow I was looking for. 

It’s important to me that the work lives, ages beautifully, breathes. Oil is not about the moment. It is about time. Just like my paintings.