In this edition of Culturalee in Conversation, we speak with artist Karina (Dilan) Savina about her expanding international presence, from exhibiting with Art Below on the London Underground to presenting a new body of work at the Affordable Art Fair. Known for her ethereal acrylic abstractions and spiritually resonant visual language, Savine’s practice bridges classical training with intuitive expression, creating immersive portals into harmony, unity, and the living pulse of nature.
Her latest series, Living Worlds — The Gardens of London Within Us, draws inspiration from London’s historic gardens as metaphors for the human inner landscape. Through flowing forms, spirals, and delicate transitions, Savine explores cyclicality, awakening, and the quiet dialogue between the soul and the natural world. In our conversation, she reflects on bringing contemplative art into dynamic public spaces, the global resonance of her recent exhibitions, and how her Russian academic foundations and life in Belgrade shape her evolving metaphysical aesthetic.
Savina is presenting her new body of work at the Affordable Art Fair with The Hyde Gallery, following her selection by the gallery, while her participation in Art Below is connected to her exhibition with Ad Lib Gallery in London, where she was likewise selected to present her work.
You’ll be exhibiting at the upcoming Affordable Art Fair. Can you share what works you will be presenting there and which gallery you are showing with? How does this particular fair fit into your broader artistic trajectory and international presence?
Participating in the Affordable Art Fair is becoming a logical and harmonious next step for me — a new turn in my international artistic presence. On one level, working on a portfolio and CV can be seen as closing important milestones and tasks. Yet first and foremost, growth and scale are about something much more valuable: the opportunity to soundand to manifest yourself, especially when you already understand what you are about and what you can transmit to the world — to other people.
For me, painting has always been a way of expressing truth, pure states, and the unconditional beauty of life — a direct way of interaction and dialogue without frames or borders. The more I participate in international exhibitions, the more clearly I see: art is alive when the creator speaks — when it is unconditional and goes beyond personal reflection, when it is transmitted to others.
I am happy to let my paintings go — it opens space for new works and new tasks, and my heart beats faster: the message has been accepted by space, the paintings will live. And this means that other people will be able to discover something new in this dialogue for themselves, to explore their inner world even more deeply through art. In this sense, Affordable Art Fair is a beautiful space — where everyone can find something that truly resonates.
I have prepared a new series of paintings that reflect the gardens of London and the infinity of the human inner world. In these new works, there are subtle and delicate images of nature spirits, as well as fine strings of time and space. I continue to develop dynamics in acrylic abstraction, creating flowing forms and spirals.
At the same time, my main task is to create visually comfortable art that is universal for interiors and spaces, and that gives the viewer and the owner of the painting the most pleasant and elevated feelings. Each canvas is a whole world — a portal into states of harmony, freedom, and unity. Inspiration from English nature and gardens became a very important link in their creation.
Your work is currently featured in Art Below on the London Underground. What was the concept behind your contribution, and how did it feel to see your art placed within such a dynamic public space, encountered by thousands of commuters daily?
For my participation in Art Below, I presented a painting created at the beginning of 2026. In it, I combined two acrylic techniques with soft pastel to convey a state that feels especially important and relevant for our present time: the state of harmonious interaction.
In a world where there is often much chaos, it feels essential to sense another possibility: how can we live differently? How can we live in a way that does not destroy nature and our world? When rivers flow within their banks, clouds move along their paths… and people live with open hearts, and everything they create weaves into one unified and harmonious pattern of creation.
I often dream of such a world. At times, it feels very close. I live in this state and embedded it into the painting. That is why participation in an art project for the metro — in a noisy and fast environment — feels especially logical. Even if one person pauses and is able to grasp this on the level of feeling through the image of the painting, it is already something significant.
It is also deeply joyful to see public spaces come alive through art. It is surprising and inspiring — because the environment also shapes our mood and our state.
2025 was a remarkable year for you, particularly with your participation in the Women in Art Biennale in London and Colour 2025 at CICA Museum in South Korea. How would you describe the impact and reception of your work at these exhibitions, and in what ways did these experiences contribute to your growing global recognition?
These projects and exhibitions revealed something very important — perhaps the most important thing: we all feel in the same way; we understand each other without words.
When we come into contact with something created honestly — I mean a work that the artist truly lives through and transforms into constructiveness, into resource, into unconditionality — we become closer to one another. Communication happens intuitively, and everything unnecessary around us becomes insignificant.
All the works I presented to these projects (and continue to present) become like beacons and bridges — from something subtle and spiritual, honestly lived and discovered, to something material and understandable that anyone can feel, while still living their own unique experience.
I continue to develop images of the Soul and of journey, the unity of nature and the human being in abstract forms. The beautiful resonance experienced by people in international projects inspires me to open up and create even more deeply. The living is drawn to the living — this is how our choices happen, how we experience new communication on the level of Souls. Our world becomes richer and more vibrant when it is filled with new and beautiful works.
And of course, such events bring extraordinary people who are close in spirit — this is an incredible strength and motivation to move forward.
Having trained at the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture and now living and working in Belgrade, your art bridges classical foundations with ethereal, symbolic dimensions. How do your Russian roots and Serbian environment influence the emotional and metaphysical language of your work today?
Classical training helps me greatly in matters of discipline, composition, harmony, and work with color. I have always loved art, and my education in architecture and watercolor graphics gave me the necessary structure and understanding of foundations and creative principles, which I can now combine with a more expressive and feeling-oriented dimension.
Life in Serbia has given me an even deeper connection with nature. There are incredible mountains and lakes here, and this unity became a living dialogue with space, which assembles like a puzzle in my recent works.
At the same time, I increasingly discover the unconditionality of life. Frames, patterns, borders, conventions — all of this becomes unimportant when we are open to one another and sound honestly from within. For me, it is a great value to have the possibility of movement, to discover new places and cultures. Through practice and embodiment in creativity, it becomes possible to show this unconditionality to others as well.
What is a typical day like in your studio, and what is the starting point or inspiration for each artwork?
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that each work is first born and created inside me — as the quintessence of a certain experience and already lived discoveries.
The most important thing is not to remain suspended in personal feelings and reflections. Otherwise, the painting will remain unfinished — the viewer will not see an exit. Falling into the images of someone else’s feelings is not the most pleasant experience.
When I feel that the bud of a new painting has ripened inside me, I begin to see it with inner vision. Then I select the necessary colors, and the process of creation unfolds in this state. At times I see and feel how water and pigments themselves enter into resonance with what I am transmitting — and the body suggests the necessary movements.
I also often love painting outdoors, in nature. In this way, the process of living dialogue becomes even more manifested.
Are there any other exciting projects coming up this year that you would like to talk about here?
The nearest one is the Affordable Art Fair. Then in March there will be the exhibition Through Her Eyes at The Hyde Gallery, dedicated to International Women’s Day.
For me, it is a special joy to participate in women’s exhibitions and projects — to be a voice for women. Our nature and our feminine essence are to create. No matter how, every woman finds her own unique way and path. I often feel all women’s destinies as one — a purity and beauty of solidarity. I hope that women’s strength and our ability to live in a safe world will continue to unfold more and more, allowing us to love, to create, and to be ourselves.
At the same time, the Weightless exhibition is still ongoing at Artlounge Chelsea — three of my paintings are presented there, reflecting states of nature and natural cycles. And until March 8, I am also participating in the Ad Lib Gallery exhibition held in conjunction with Art Below.
In September 2026, I will prepare a new digital participation project with Artio Gallery for an exhibition in New York. Sometimes new projects appear unexpectedly, and sometimes the necessary direction forms in advance. In any case, the path itself is what truly matters.
Living Worlds — The Gardens of London Within Us
My new series Living Worlds is inspired by the gardens of London as reflections of our inner landscapes. These paintings convey a state of unity, blossoming, and life as one continuous process unfolding simultaneously within the human inner world and in nature itself: the awakening of the Soul and the awakening of spring, movement and cyclicality, the moment of flowers opening, the shifting of seasons, and the freshness of moist air.
Everything in the world is inseparable. When we truly feel, we experience unity with all living things around us, and in doing so, we open our own inner world.
The series unfolds as a sensual map of living nature — a visual narrative of how a living world is born, and at the same time a revelation of the beauty of the human inner world. Through flowing forms, spirals, and subtle transitions, the works embody movement and cyclicality — images of portal-like passages and eternal transformation. There is no beginning and no end; life is always transforming, and it is unconditional.
These paintings are an ode to life and awakening — to the beauty of co-creation with the spirits of nature, to love and to blossoming. They carry images of pulsation, juiciness, and lightness through feeling-states inspired by spring gardens.
Within the series, even the smallest work acts like a berry — a delicate link that does not place a final point, but instead reveals harmony in different nuances and combinations. Each canvas becomes a living world — a portal into states of harmony, unity, freedom, and the quiet, powerful feeling of being fully alive.
All images © Karina Savina.
