Polina Kniaz-Petukhovsky (b. 1990) is a Dubai-based artist working at the intersection of biomorphic surrealism and neo-expressionism. She studied Contemporary Drawing and Painting at Central Saint Martins (UAL) in 2024, completed the RMA Modern Art programme (2017–2018), and previously studied at Boston University, ISM in Frankfurt am Main, and the Higher School of Economics (HSE). Her international background informs a multilayered artistic practice grounded in psychological inquiry, symbolism, and technical precision.

Kniaz-Petukhovsky's practice examines the mechanisms through which psychological tension acquires material form and, through the artistic process, is reorganised into structures of visual harmony. Her work focuses on intense emotional states, particularly anxiety and panic, and on the psychological experience of living within prolonged uncertainty, constant change, and displacement. Rather than approaching these conditions as purely autobiographical, she considers them universal states that activate individual memory and deeper collective patterns of perception.

The artist is interested in the possibility of transforming anxiety from a dominant emotional condition into a source of inner structure, balance, and resilience. Through the slow, layered process of painting, emotional tension gradually develops into compositions of increasing clarity, rhythm, and order. Numerous translucent layers of oil paint mirror an internal process of transformation, allowing each work to evolve organically, as if it were a living organism.

Alongside her paintings, Kniaz-Petukhovsky produces an extensive series of expressive drawings that capture the immediacy of an emotional impulse, as well as ceramic sculptures that explore tactility, corporeality, and sensory grounding. Across all media, vivid colour palettes, biomorphic forms, and recurring symbolic motifs construct psychological landscapes in which internal states become tangible spatial environments.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at World Art Dubai (2024), Boomer Gallery, London (Dreams and Nightmares, 2024), Artly Mix Gallery, São Paulo (Elementos, 2024), and in the solo exhibition Emotional Kaleidoscope in Tbilisi (2024).

Kniaz-Petukhovsky continues to develop a distinctive visual language that investigates the relationships between emotion, memory, embodiment, and the architecture of inner transformation.

Visual Art Journal: Interivew with Polina Kniaz-Petukhovsky

Al-Tiba9 Contemporary Art Magazine: 10 Questions with Polina Kniaz-Petukhovsky