Interview with Digital Artist Nika Lynas
I connected with the emotional atmosphere of Nika’s work from the moment they stared back at me from the screen. I didn’t know what I was feeling but it felt like the image was reaching out and enveloping me. Through this interview Nika opened up about her struggles with self worth and their relationship to others, all things I myself have been deep engulfed in unpacking for myself in the past year. To see an artist bring these feelings to life in such a powerful series of works is breath taking. I’m fully on board and can’t wait for more works to come.
Where are you from and what was life like growing up there?
I am from Russia. I was born, raised, and currently live in Moscow. The theme of space and the sensation of «home» runs through all of my art. The origins of my journey as an artist lie in an environment where the lack of emotional support and physical safety forced me to expand my inner world to hypertrophied proportions. The harsh and unstable atmosphere at home acted as a catalyst; it sharpened my empathy and emotional intelligence, allowing me to create art from deep introspection rather than simply practicing a craft. Life has not been easy, and it remains challenging, but I am striving to change that, currently holding onto a plan to eventually relocate.
What is your first memory of being creative?
All of my earliest memories are tied to my grandmother. I often try to bypass my psychological defenses to uncover childhood memories in the context of creativity, and year after year, I only recall her. She was an artist too, and her story still causes me deep pain: she was a woman who grew up in an emotional vacuum, facing envy and rejection of her talent from her own brothers, teachers, and later, her husband. My most vivid memory is sitting in the living room, waiting for my grandfather to arrive, as he hated it when she painted. She would be using the finest brush to paint a large matryoshka doll, drawing tiny daisies at the feet of the daughters depicted against the background of our school. Meanwhile, I was covering a wooden ball in blue watercolor, peering into a composition textbook and trying to copy an illustration called «The Snow Queen» (a horse galloping through the air over gingerbread houses, pulling a sled with a beautiful queen in a fur coat and a crown). I was six or seven, and it didn’t turn out very well, but that sense of stolen, secret creativity has stayed with me forever.
Can you walk us through your creative process?
For me, contemporary art is no longer about the «bright and eternal» but rather about exposing personal or collective trauma, deviations, and deficits. It all starts with pain. I don’t create «just beautiful» works anymore, each piece has become a statement about a lived experience. I immerse myself fully in circumstances, explore my psychological limits, and seek visual metaphors. For instance, with «Blanc Yield», I searched for a long time for a symbol of collective frustration and the act of surrender as a way to preserve one’s sanity, eventually choosing white poppies. My compositions are quite minimalist, but my focus is on light, mist, and digital glitch. It is a meticulous manual process, yet deeply meditative: I place fragmented pixels bit by bit, render light distortions and subtle details, and work with the atmosphere through object transparency. The final stage is assembling the artistic and meta-symbolic concept. Before this, I interact with an LLM as a personal psychoanalyst, a «safe space» that helps me translate the chaos of my emotions into the language of structured psychoanalytic concepts.
How would you describe your style of art?
I call it «digital introspective surrealism», where each work is constructed as a deep allegorical scene.
What are some of your early inspirations and have those changed over the years?
I am a very sensitive person. In my childhood, I dedicated many years to classical vocal training and music. When combined with the hyper-vigilance fostered in an unstable home, you begin to feel everything so acutely that notes seem to interact with you physically. Music helped me escape into fictional worlds from which my characters and universes were later born. Over time, this source has evolved. Today, music is just a pleasant background that helps me structure my thoughts or get into the right headspace. My main and perhaps only source of inspiration has become myself, my inner process of healing and my way of perceiving reality.
What does art mean to you?
Art for me is a tool for separating myself from destructive patterns and a way to achieve genuine self-worth. As I have noted in my reflections, the authenticity of a work lies in the very impulse that makes one rise after a catharsis to keep living and loving oneself with healthy love. Art exists at the very moment when pain is recognized, healed, or accepted. I see the essence of art in constructing a deep emotional experience that can unite «my» people, those who see in my works a reflection of their own need for love, protection, and understanding.
Do you have any hobbies outside of art?
I have been asking myself this question for months because, at some point, I forgot the meaning of the word «hobby». I am wired in such a way that everything I take on must be done well and eventually become monetized. I don’t know where this entrepreneurial drive comes from, but analog photography, fashion design, and laying out art publications have all turned into projects. I am still passionate about typography! Two years ago, I tried my hand at writing and began working on a book. Due to life circumstances at the end of last year, it had to be put on hold, but my current art series, «Machine’s Confession», is essentially its visual sequel. Only this time, the «safe space» is not a living person, but an impartial Machine.
What is a small bit of advice you could give new artists starting in the industry?
Learn to defend your boundaries and copyright from the very beginning. There are many unscrupulous people in this industry ready to parasitize your uniqueness. Leave your name everywhere, build a personal brand, and guard your reputation. Understand that social media algorithms can work against you, but they do not reflect the true value of your art. Sometimes, art just needs to «mature». I have experienced this firsthand: my search for an ephemeral style a few years ago became a source of inspiration for many authors today. If your soul demands scale, learn to be everything, a marketer, a manager, a strategist. But if that need is not there and you simply want to share your creativity, do it without doing violence to yourself.
What projects do you have coming up?
I am currently fully focused on expanding my main conceptual series, «Machine’s Confession». At the moment, I am working on a very heavy, intuitive canvas called «Family Tree», where I explore the taboo subject of empathy toward destructive parents and the weight of separation. Simultaneously, I am preparing for upcoming exhibitions. And, very importantly for my international audience: due to the logistical difficulties of shipping physical prints from Russia, I have launched the sale of exclusive digital originals (high-res files) with numbered certificates of authenticity. I am currently working with collectors by individual request, granting them ownership of the original for their own personal printing.
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