“abstraction and figuration don’t feel separate to me. They are two different points in the same process, part of a spectrum which ranges from very loose, abstracted marks through to tightly articulated figuration. I do want the resulting paintings to remain open and ambiguous despite their figuration. The viewer has to fill in the looser areas in their mind and I hope that leads to a multiplicity of different readings.” Flora Yukhnovich

Masterfully combining figuration and abstraction, Above the Salt is emblematic of Flora Yukhnovich’s known oeuvre that reimagines the aesthetic of Rococo paintings into a contemporary language.

This painting is part of a new series of work begun at the end of 2020 and is inspired by various 18th Century paintings of the Birth of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty born from sea spray. In this painting, fragments of Venus’ body are intertwined with the sea. Loose patches of blue fluidly intersect and overlap with flesh in a frenzied abstraction. The body edges in and out of focus in a masterful handling of oil paint.

Yukhnovich is one of the latest additions to Victoria Miro’s roster and was one of the first artists to be invited to undertake a residency with the gallery in Venice in 2019. The residency prompted a shift in her work from French to Italian influences, and ushered in a looser and more gestural handling of brushwork that heightens the rhythmic sensuality that plays throughout her ambitious compositions.

Selected as 'One to Watch’ of Elephant Magazine’s ‘Definitive Art Stars of 2021’. Flora Yukhnovich completed her MA at the City & Guilds of London Art School in 2017. She has exhibited at Brocket, London, Parafin, London, GASK, the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, the Jerwood Gallery Hastings and at Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds Arts University, UK. Collections include Government Art Collection and David Roberts Art Collection. In 2018 she completed The Great Women Artists Residency at Palazzo Monti, Brescia. During the second half of 2022, Flora will have a solo exhibition at Victoria Miro and an exhibition of works responding to the collection at The Ashmolean, Oxford.