INNA NIKOLAIEVA
INNA NIKOLAIEVA
is an interdisciplinary artist exploring memory, time, and processes of transformation. Originally from Ukraine, she lives and works in Vienna.
Inna Nikolaieva is an interdisciplinary artist exploring memory, time, and processes of transformation. Originally from Ukraine, she lives and works in Vienna.
Her education combined architecture, painting, sculpture, and eurythmy - a path that began with academic training and led her to a tradition rooted in Goethe’s theory of color and Kandinsky’s theoretical work, as well as her first exhibitions with a group of artists working in the “Contemplativism” direction.
Later, Inna completed a pedagogical education in the arts, developed new methods and approaches, and led seminars for teachers ... read more
Her education combined architecture, painting, sculpture, and eurythmy - a path that began with academic training and led her to a tradition rooted in Goethe’s theory of color and Kandinsky’s theoretical work, as well as her first exhibitions with a group of artists working in the “Contemplativism” direction.
Later, Inna completed a pedagogical education in the arts, developed new methods and approaches, and led seminars for teachers ... read more
BIO
Inna Nikolaieva is an interdisciplinary artist exploring memory, time, and processes of transformation. Originally from Ukraine, she lives and works in Vienna.
Her education combined architecture, painting, sculpture, and eurythmy — a path that began with academic training and led her to a tradition rooted in Goethe’s theory of color and Kandinsky’s theoretical work, as well as her first exhibitions with a group of artists working in the “Contemplativism” direction. Later, Inna completed a pedagogical education in the arts, developed new methods and approaches, and led seminars for teachers.
Her childhood was marked by the image of her grandmother as a Keeper of the family, spinning a thread connecting generations through the memory of lineage. This is why the image of time became central to her practice.
Forced emigration became an experience of reassembly for Inna, awakening her interest in processes of growth, decay, and regeneration.
From this experience grew her current work with various materials that carry within them the trace of time.
Her works have been exhibited in Austria, Switzerland, France, Greece, Canada, the USA, and Ukraine, and are held in private collections around the world.
Inna Nikolaieva is an interdisciplinary artist exploring memory, time, and processes of transformation. Originally from Ukraine, she lives and works in Vienna.
Her education combined architecture, painting, sculpture, and eurythmy — a path that began with academic training and led her to a tradition rooted in Goethe’s theory of color and Kandinsky’s theoretical work, as well as her first exhibitions with a group of artists working in the “Contemplativism” direction. Later, Inna completed a pedagogical education in the arts, developed new methods and approaches, and led seminars for teachers.
Her childhood was marked by the image of her grandmother as a Keeper of the family, spinning a thread connecting generations through the memory of lineage. This is why the image of time became central to her practice.
Forced emigration became an experience of reassembly for Inna, awakening her interest in processes of growth, decay, and regeneration.
From this experience grew her current work with various materials that carry within them the trace of time.
Her works have been exhibited in Austria, Switzerland, France, Greece, Canada, the USA, and Ukraine, and are held in private collections around the world.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My artistic practice explores how time becomes form. I work with matter as an archive of irreversible change: growth, pressure, erosion, decay, and regeneration, just as architectural order in a composition, the dissolution of an image, or the movement of color leave traces through which its history can be read.
I am drawn to materials that have undergone transformation: crumpled paper, veneer cross-sections, oxidized metal, wood marked by bark beetles. In cracks, folds, and breaks I find the basis for a future composition. The transformation of wood into paper resonates for me with the way human identity is shaped: experience, culture, and trauma change its form, but the memory of what was lived through remains within it.
The work begins with attention to what has already happened to the material. A trace may be left by nature, by another person, or by myself. I read it as a record still to be activated, select traces, build relationships between them, and intensify with color the areas where a crack exposes the inner structure. My artistic gesture continues the material’s history, allowing what was once invisible to be seen.
The unfilled areas of the work create pauses, through which the flow of color gains direction and is perceived as movement. Emptiness becomes a space of possible change.
Color links these spaces to the areas already touched by time. Its density and movement trace the passage between preservation and decay, stability and fragility of form.
Each work becomes a structure that gradually changes under the action of time. I invite the viewer to look closely at these changes, to find their own connections between the memory of material and human experience, between the trace left behind and the space not yet filled.
My artistic practice explores how time becomes form. I work with matter as an archive of irreversible change: growth, pressure, erosion, decay, and regeneration, just as architectural order in a composition, the dissolution of an image, or the movement of color leave traces through which its history can be read.
I am drawn to materials that have undergone transformation: crumpled paper, veneer cross-sections, oxidized metal, wood marked by bark beetles. In cracks, folds, and breaks I find the basis for a future composition. The transformation of wood into paper resonates for me with the way human identity is shaped: experience, culture, and trauma change its form, but the memory of what was lived through remains within it.
The work begins with attention to what has already happened to the material. A trace may be left by nature, by another person, or by myself. I read it as a record still to be activated, select traces, build relationships between them, and intensify with color the areas where a crack exposes the inner structure. My artistic gesture continues the material’s history, allowing what was once invisible to be seen.
The unfilled areas of the work create pauses, through which the flow of color gains direction and is perceived as movement. Emptiness becomes a space of possible change.
Color links these spaces to the areas already touched by time. Its density and movement trace the passage between preservation and decay, stability and fragility of form.
Each work becomes a structure that gradually changes under the action of time. I invite the viewer to look closely at these changes, to find their own connections between the memory of material and human experience, between the trace left behind and the space not yet filled.
CV
EDUCATION
2023 | School of Art Communication, Mediterranean Institute of Culture, Greece
2019 | International Seminar on "Design, Drawing" in Loheland, Germany
2018 | International Seminar on "Plasticization" in Hamburg, Germany
2015 | International Study Week in Kassel, Germany
2012-2018 | Stage Education at the Eurythmie Academy, Free University (Dornach, Switzerland), branch in Dnipro, Ukraine
2004-2010 | Painting Summer School (Gerhard Wagner's method), St. Petersburg, Russia
2002-2005 | Art Teacher Training, Diploma from the International Association of Waldorf Education in Ukraine
1999-2002 | Waldorf Education. Painting Teacher Course, Dnipro, Ukraine
1998-2001 | Waldorf Education. General Teacher Course, Odessa, Ukraine
1982-1987 | Academy of Construction and Architecture. Degree in Architecture, Dnipro, Ukraine
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 | Church of the Name of Jesus, theme: "EFFATA", Vienna, Austria
2022 | Anthroposophical Cultural Center, theme: "The Cycle of the Year", Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 | Cultural Center, theme: "Landscapes of My Soul", Odesa, Ukraine
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 | Discovery Art Fair „Threads of Inner Time", Frankfurt, Germany
2025 | Maison de l'Europe "The Image of Woman: At the Roots of Peace", Paris, France
2024 | Platforms Project – Independent Art Fair, Athens, Greece
2024 | HMVC Gallery, online group art exhibition “Freestyle 2.0”, New York, USA
2024 | Gallerium, Annual Juried Art Prize, Ontario, Canada
2024 | Gallerium, international exhibition “Believe – 2024”, Ontario, Canada
2024 | ARTBOX.PROJECT, exhibition SWISSARTEXPO, Zürich, Switzerland
2024 | Gallery “ARTHOUSE.NYC”, curated exhibition “Balance”, New York, USA
2024 | The Holy Art Gallery, virtual exhibition “AURA”, London, GB
2024 | Biafarin/Exhibizone, group exhibition “Anti - WAR”, BC, Canada
2024 | Peace Museum “Posters for Peace” Vienna, Austria
2023 | Biafarin, international exhibition “Awards 23”, Ontario, Canada
2023 | Gallery “Gabriel Fine Arts Ltd”, exhibition, London, GB
2022 | Gallery "PRODUZENTENGALERIE WIEN", exhibition, Vienna, Austria
2022 | Virtual exhibition "META-SENSES", Ukraine
2009 | Art Museum, exhibition of contemplative artists, “-Sophia” Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
2008 | Goetheanum, exhibition of contemplative artists, Dornach, Switzerland
2006 | Literature Museum, exhibition of the "OST-WEST" artists' association, Dnipro, Ukraine
2006 | Literature Museum, "Krik" theater. Project performance with the "Potoki" Theater, Dnipro, Ukraine
PUBLICATIONS
2026 | «АRT ESTATE” Magazine, Los Angeles, California
2024 | “ARTISTTALK” Magazine, issue 32, United Kingdom
2023 | “Artistonish” Magazine, issue 40, Canada
EDUCATION
2023 | School of Art Communication, Mediterranean Institute of Culture, Greece
2019 | International Seminar on "Design, Drawing" in Loheland, Germany
2018 | International Seminar on "Plasticization" in Hamburg, Germany
2015 | International Study Week in Kassel, Germany
2012-2018 | Stage Education at the Eurythmie Academy, Free University (Dornach, Switzerland), branch in Dnipro, Ukraine
2004-2010 | Painting Summer School (Gerhard Wagner's method), St. Petersburg, Russia
2002-2005 | Art Teacher Training, Diploma from the International Association of Waldorf Education in Ukraine
1999-2002 | Waldorf Education. Painting Teacher Course, Dnipro, Ukraine
1998-2001 | Waldorf Education. General Teacher Course, Odessa, Ukraine
1982-1987 | Academy of Construction and Architecture. Degree in Architecture, Dnipro, Ukraine
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 | Church of the Name of Jesus, theme: "EFFATA", Vienna, Austria
2022 | Anthroposophical Cultural Center, theme: "The Cycle of the Year", Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 | Cultural Center, theme: "Landscapes of My Soul", Odesa, Ukraine
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 | Discovery Art Fair „Threads of Inner Time", Frankfurt, Germany
2025 | Maison de l'Europe "The Image of Woman: At the Roots of Peace", Paris, France
2024 | Platforms Project – Independent Art Fair, Athens, Greece
2024 | HMVC Gallery, online group art exhibition “Freestyle 2.0”, New York, USA
2024 | Gallerium, Annual Juried Art Prize, Ontario, Canada
2024 | Gallerium, international exhibition “Believe – 2024”, Ontario, Canada
2024 | ARTBOX.PROJECT, exhibition SWISSARTEXPO, Zürich, Switzerland
2024 | Gallery “ARTHOUSE.NYC”, curated exhibition “Balance”, New York, USA
2024 | The Holy Art Gallery, virtual exhibition “AURA”, London, GB
2024 | Biafarin/Exhibizone, group exhibition “Anti - WAR”, BC, Canada
2024 | Peace Museum “Posters for Peace” Vienna, Austria
2023 | Biafarin, international exhibition “Awards 23”, Ontario, Canada
2023 | Gallery “Gabriel Fine Arts Ltd”, exhibition, London, GB
2022 | Gallery "PRODUZENTENGALERIE WIEN", exhibition, Vienna, Austria
2022 | Virtual exhibition "META-SENSES", Ukraine
2009 | Art Museum, exhibition of contemplative artists, “-Sophia” Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
2008 | Goetheanum, exhibition of contemplative artists, Dornach, Switzerland
2006 | Literature Museum, exhibition of the "OST-WEST" artists' association, Dnipro, Ukraine
2006 | Literature Museum, "Krik" theater. Project performance with the "Potoki" Theater, Dnipro, Ukraine
PUBLICATIONS
2026 | «АRT ESTATE” Magazine, Los Angeles, California
2024 | “ARTISTTALK” Magazine, issue 32, United Kingdom
2023 | “Artistonish” Magazine, issue 40, Canada