Anna Kurkova
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Arts
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: MFA UCL Slade School of Fine Arts
Research Areas: Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Installation, Mixed Media Art, Art History
Anna Kurkova is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Arts with an art practice rooted in painting and printmaking. She earned her MFA from the UCL Slade School of Fine Arts, an MA in Art History from the Sorbonne, and a BA in Visual Arts from New York University.
Kurkova’s research explores themes of identity, perception, and memory, constructing a collaged alternative universe informed by mythology, iconography, and art-historical references. Drawing on Byzantine art, the Renaissance tradition of the hero’s journey, and the contemporary color movement of Les Nabis, she weaves myth and personal experience into ongoing visual narratives. She frequently works with shaped canvases, making the geometry of the panel an integral part of the painting itself. Her practice shifts between painting and printmaking through the use of monotype. It begins as a painting on a plastic matrix, which then gets transferred onto paper using an intaglio press. The pressure of the press distributes mineral pigments, watercolor, and gouache in unpredictable ways, introducing an element of chance and disruption through soft, blurred lines, imperfections, and bleeds of color.
Kurkova is represented by Long & Ryle Gallery in London and maintains studios in North London and Abu Dhabi. She recently completed an artist residency with Winsor & Newton (2026). She is the recipient of the Jackson Painting Prize in Oil Painting (2023) and the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Award for Public Sculpture (2017).