Bankside Hotel, in partnership with Contemporary Collective, is delighted to welcome Yuliya Martynova as our Winter Artist in Residence. Based in Berkshire and originally from Kazakhstan, Yuliya is a multidisciplinary artist celebrated for her luminous, cloud-like compositions that explore emotion, energy, and balance through colour and movement.
Marking the tenth anniversary of her full-time artistic career, Yuliya’s residency ,‘La Femme Nuage (She Is The Cloud)’, continues her exploration of female identity and the natural world. Through fluid layers of paint and feather-light brushstrokes, she captures femininity as both powerful and ethereal: a force of nature that is temperamental, bright, and overwhelming in its beauty.
Throughout her residency, Yuliya will transform the glass-fronted Art Yard Studio into a living artwork—a space where guests can observe her process firsthand as she creates a new body of work inspired by London’s most admired and influential women. The residency will culminate in a showcase celebrating women across key industries, spanning art, fashion, politics, finance, law, and technology.
In celebration of the festive season, Yuliya will also collaborate with Art Yard Bar & Kitchen to bring her distinctive aesthetic into the heart of the hotel’s Christmas experience. Together with the Art Yard team, she will co-create a signature festive cocktail inspired by her palette and practice. Each cocktail will be served in individually hand-finished glasses, painted by the artist using her signature technique, turning every sip into a small act of art appreciation.
Through these collaborations, Yuliya’s residency bridges fine art, hospitality, and sensory experience, inviting guests to engage with creativity in intimate and meaningful ways.
About Yuliya’s practice:
Born in Kazakhstan and based in the UK for the past 20 years, Yuliya Martynova is a multidisciplinary painter whose path to art was shaped by classical training and an early career in law. After 15 years in the corporate world, she made the decisive shift to become a full-time artist—quickly gaining recognition from online curators, exhibiting at numerous art fairs, and joining the rosters of several London galleries.
Her collections are defined by elegant flow and an ethereal glow, exploring themes such as fragility and strength in her skyscapes; solitude and wonder in her sailboat series; the rhythm of city life in her Connected works on paper; and the cyclical beauty of her Blossom collection. Across mediums, Yuliya’s work invites viewers into a dreamy, elemental realm—evoking a gentle sense of nostalgia through weightless, atmospheric emotion.
Stay Connected
Follow Yuliya’s journey and behind-the-scenes moments via @Contemporary_Collective
Open House
Art Yard Maker’s Studio has an open-house policy, so if you‘re visiting our neighbourhood’s major art galleries, Southbank Centre, Tate Modern or Hayward Gallery why not stop by to see an artist at work.