Passion for art, wealth of colour: Yuliya Solomennaya's red and gold canvases

Yuliya Solomennaya was born Grodno, Belarus, in 1989. “I began to draw from the age of 5,” she says, “having grown up in a beautiful picturesque green country, in a city with European style architecture.”

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Based in Dubai now, she is an international artist who has participated in exhibitions in Belarus, UAE, USA, Greece, Mexico and India, among other places. She is a Guinness World Records holder (2022) as a participant in the most number of nationalities art event held in Abu Dhabi.

In 2013, she moved from Belarus to the United Arab Emirates. She works mainly in abstract in acrylic, oil and watercolour and is skilled in graphic design. She has been interviewed on television and been written about in leading publications in the Emirates. Her community contributions include taking part in live painting events dedicated UAE National Day and Ramadan. She has also worked with children of determination and inspired by her life in Dubai, she has dedicated many artworks to the UAE.

She is known for her innovative use of gold painting within red canvases. She employs the culturally rich gold leaf and thematic gold elements, to create an interplay of colour and symbolism. “In many civilisations,” says Yuliya, “the colours red and gold have strong symbolic meanings. Gold has a long history of being used in art to represent divinity and sanctity. It is frequently connected to riches, success, and grandeur. Because of its rarity and dazzling brightness, it is a potent emblem of achievement and spiritual enlightenment.