Paintings of Familiar Cities With a Twist, by Anastasia Mak

Anastasia Mak is a Chicago based painter who was born in Ukraine. She is constantly striving to learn more about the world through travel, and her paintings of familiar cities and landscapes are created with a twist – whether that be a reverse in colour palette or a touch of surrealism. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her work as much as I do! 

Your paintings have a very unique style. How did that develop?

My style has gradually developed over the years. I’ve always loved bright colors, and destination themes came out in my paintings naturally due to my love of travel. I started using vertical lines (and then, other geometry) in my works after creating a large New York painting for my home. I wanted something to go against a long brick wall in my hallway, and vertical lines, breaking up the monotony of brick, were the perfect visual answer. After that, they kind of “took off” – lines and other geometric shapes appeared in more and more of my canvases. I love combining random geometry with perspectives of cities and landscapes, it makes the painting process feel very playful to me.

Florence

Let’s talk about process. What steps do you take when creating each piece?

Occasionally I do a quick paper sketch on-site, but usually my method involves taking hundreds of photographs during my trips, and then going through them in my studio. From there, I create a composition (and sometimes it combines the use of multiple shots) and then a painting slowly comes to life. My works are normally fully completed in my studio, and the process for each piece takes several days or weeks.

Paris

It’s clear you have travelled a lot. Where has been your favourite place to paint and why?

It may be a cliche answer, but I have to go with Italy. Having lived there (for several months, while studying abroad in college), and then returned to visit a couple of times, I always marvel at how much eye candy there is for an artist. But I also love to paint my current home, Chicago.

Prague

Aside from travel, what inspires your work?

Chicago has a wonderful art scene, and being around other artists fuels my painting energy. Also, street art. Music. Hiking, and nature.

Dubrovnik

What do you hope your paintings tell the viewer about the place they depict?

Hopefully my paintings will either inspire the viewer to visit those places, or they will evoke warm memories of their past travels there. Either way, the goal is to create a joyous feeling. Also, I put my own color twist on everything. Some cities are naturally grey…or brown – but I may depict them them in, say, turquoise, or orange hues. So then my audience gets to see them through a slightly different lens!

Istanbul

Finally, If you could paint anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Hmm. I’m not sure if I can give a proper answer to this question, because I fantasize of setting up an art studio almost everywhere I visit. Last week, I traveled to New Orleans and now I want to go back and paint there. In my head, I have dream art studios in Barcelona, Italy, Colorado, Mexico, New York… And Bali (which I have not been to yet). I’m a little bit addicted to discovering new places, and the fantasy of painting there always accompanies that addiction.

You can see more of Anastasia’s work on her website.

What do you like about Anastasia’s work? Have you been to any of the places depicted in her paintings?