Ais

We fly above the limits of the trees,

2026

Mixed media on canvas, oil and acrylic

'We fly above the limits of the trees
We speak in languages we never learned
We sail across the deep, unmapped seas
To shores for which our waking hearts have yearned'

Dimensions

H. 100 x L. 120 cm


biography

Ais
B. 1982, Kazakhstan

Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Ais now lives and works in Berlin. Trained in fine arts at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she has lived in France, the United States, and Singapore.

Her practice explores emotional bonds, intimacy, and human relationships. Her works address love, trust, family, security, and the desire for closeness. Drawing on memories, personal experiences, and lived relationships, her figures are not portraits. Their deliberately undefined identities allow viewers to project their own stories onto the gestures, gazes, and spaces that bring them together.

Her pictorial language is characterized by simplified forms, bold colors, and imagined compositions. Bodies draw close, support one another, or at times merge into a single entity. Beds, blankets, expanses of water, fields, and skies extend their inner states, becoming spaces of refuge, protection, or surrender. Her practice is rooted in an intuitive process, guided by music, color, and chance. Ais works through layers, erasures, and overpainting, allowing the image to emerge gradually rather than following a predetermined composition.

In her recent works, the figures seem absorbed in their own worlds, often with their eyes closed or their gaze turned away from the viewer. In response to the omnipresence of screens, the accelerating pace of life, and the diminishing attention we give to one another, Ais approaches painting as a space for pause and emotional reconnection. Her work invites us to slow down, to feel, and to remember the essential value of closeness, trust, and love.