"I explore the ephemerality of our current existence. Despite the fact that we are in material space, our life is increasingly flowing into the net. The possibilities of modern technologies allow you to transfer most of your time into the nets of electronic devices, leaving real life outside of it. Thus, a person begins to live more and more not in the real world, but in the world of information phantoms. In my paintings, I try to fix a person in the material space. My characters perform intelligible, tangible actions within recognizable physical objects. I portray an ideal world where everything is in its place."
Svetlana Kornilova is an internationally exhibited contemporary artist whose practice explores childhood, memory, and the emotional complexity of modern life. Her work is rooted in figurative storytelling, where imagined worlds sit alongside psychological realism, creating narratives that speak simultaneously to children and adults.
Kornilova’s paintings are distinguished by their quiet intensity and symbolic detail. Drawing on personal experience and universal archetypes, she examines themes of choice, innocence, resilience, and the fleeting nature of existence. Her visual language is poetic yet disciplined, combining technical precision with a deeply emotional undercurrent.
She has exhibited widely across the UK and internationally, with exhibitions and selections including Mall Galleries, the Society of Women Artists, the Royal Society of British Artists, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Her work has also been shown at the the Bath Society of Artists (2025), and the London Art Biennale (2021).
In 2024, Kornilova won the Art Competition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery, with her painting "Make Your Choice" displayed at Dulwich Picture Gallery through January 2025.
A member of the Society of Women Artists, she is a multiple prize-winner and has participated in major curated exhibitions including Visual Arts Scotland at Dalkeith Palace. Her works are held in private collections across Europe, the Americas, and beyond.
Central to Kornilova’s artistic ethos is a seriousness of purpose shaped early in life by her mother - an influence she often describes as both grounding and formative. This sense of responsibility toward craft and meaning runs through her work, lending it a quiet authority and emotional depth.
Svetlana Kornilova lives and works in the UK.
