FLORA YUKHNOVICH

Early Years

Born in 1990 in Norwich, UK, Yukhnovich studied at the City & Guilds of London Art School, where she completed her MA in Fine Art in 2017. She currently lives and works in London. Yukhnovich’s early fascination with art history and decorative traditions informs much of her practice, particularly her engagement with 18th-century French painting.

Early Exploration of Rococo

Yukhnovich’s breakthrough came shortly after completing her MA, when she began producing works inspired by François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. In paintings such as Pretty Little Thing (2018), she deploys loose, expressive brushwork, evoking Rococo’s opulence without direct figuration. Her interest in the decorative—as both visual language and cultural signifier—emerged strongly during this period.

Expanding the Language of Abstraction

By 2020, Yukhnovich’s works had become bolder in scale and gesture. In paintings like Imitation of Life (2020) and Warm, Wet N’ Wild (2021), she navigates between softness and intensity, balancing sugary palettes with more disruptive strokes and drips. These works reflect her interest in exploring how societal ideals—particularly around femininity—are embedded in art historical narratives.

What are Yukhnovich’s influences?

Flora Yukhnovich draws inspiration from 18th-century Rococo masters such as François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, whose playful, ornamental works inform her exploration of beauty, sensuality, and excess. She is also influenced by the gestural traditions of Abstract Expressionism, bringing a contemporary, expressive approach to historical subject matter. Yukhnovich has cited the importance of thinking critically about the cultural codes embedded in painting, including ideas of taste, femininity, and the decorative, as well as her interest in bridging art historical references with contemporary art language.

Exhibitions

Flora Yukhnovich has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important institutions.

Solo Exhibitions

• Flora Yukhnovich: Into the Woods, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark (2024)
• Flora Yukhnovich and François Boucher: The Language of the Rococo, The Wallace Collection, London (2024)
• Ashmolean NOW, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2023)

Group Exhibitions

• New British Abstraction, Center of International Contemporary Art (CICA), Vancouver (2023)
• GV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2023)
• Impressionism: A World View, Nassau County Museum of Art, New York (2022)

Website and Instagram

Flora Yukhnovich’s website can be found here, and her Instagram can be found here.

Ocula | 2025