Yuliya Lanina

Yuliya Lanina is a multimedia artist whose work bridges traditional media with new technologies, such as video, robotics, Virtual Reality, and performance – often combining them all. Born in Moscow, Lanina arrived in New York as a political refugee. There she established herself as a pioneering artist on the cutting edge of combining digital technologies with the handmade media. She creates alternate realities in her works—ones based on sexuality, trauma, fetishism, and identity.

Lanina’s honors include Fulbright (Vienna, Austria), Headlands Art Center (CA), and Yaddo Colony (NY). Exhibitions include SXSW (TX), Seoul Art Museum (Korea), SIGGRAPH (Japan), 798 Beijing Biennial (China), Cleveland Institute of Art (OH), Museum Ludwig (Germany) and Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Russia).  Her recent solo show at Xposed gallery on New York’s HighLine was viewed by more than 1,000 people per day over three weeks. 

Lanina lives in Austin, TX with her husband and twin daughters. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies at The University of Texas at Austin.

Artist Statement

I bring a dissonant charge to everything I create. Playful and quirky on the exterior, my work uses whimsy as a device to draw closer inspection, leading to greater awareness and introspection among viewers. Once engaged, the viewer often finds evocations of the dark matter that is the underbelly of human existence, striking a primordial balance.

Through my work, I examine the relationship between absurdity, sexuality, and trauma with a particular focus on physical and psychic reconstruction through reassembling disparate parts. Though stemming from my specific experiences, my work aims to speak to the nature of being, to the heart as well as intellect, and to be accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds.

I strive to turn the traditional medium of painting into a multi-dimensional, immersive experience for the viewer, creating multimedia installations, performances, animations, and mechanized sculptures based on my paintings. The Surrealist and Dada approach inspires my images with the subconscious taking the lead. I leave analytical thinking behind and embrace the nonsensical and surprising.

Project info