5 modern art trends: Anna Kostritskaya on digital innovation and creativity

Anna Kostritskaya is a globally recognized artist whose expressive abstract works have been celebrated at numerous international art events, including those in Vienna, Dubai, Venice, Basel, London, and Paris. Her art has been featured in prestigious publications such as British Vogue, Tatler, and GQ. Known for her vibrant contemporary style, Anna excels in both traditional painting and digital art, including NFT projects, redefining the boundaries of modern creativity. Starting now, her captivating paintings will be exclusively available in the InkPoster™ app, offering a unique opportunity to experience her artistry in a digital format.

Exclusively for InkPoster, Anna Kostritskaya shares her insights on the latest trends in art, discusses the impact of technology on creativity, and explains why she believes the future lies in digital formats for storing and displaying art.

Digitalization: the key trend in modern art

I’m an artist who traditionally works with oil, textiles, sand – offline art, hands-on craftsmanship. But for me, art began to shift dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s when online galleries, virtual museums, and digital exhibitions emerged. In 2020, I hosted my first online exhibition – a 3D projection of a virtual space where visitors could explore the artwork from home.

Throughout 2021, I worked on a huge NFT project, back when NFTs were still virtually unknown. The concept of my project was rooted in the idea that, after spending so much time isolated at home, art itself would inevitably evolve and transition into digital formats.

That year, I dove deeply into the topic – studying the Metaverse and exploring how artists could adapt and avoid being overshadowed by the rise of digital art. After all, in today’s world, there’s an oversaturation of everything, including physical art. People simply don’t have enough space to store or display traditional works. Of course, if you’re talking about immensely valuable pieces by famous artists, they’re usually stored offshore or in secured facilities, like airports.

While working on my NFT project, I frequently discussed with experts the challenge of showcasing art at home. In other words, it is important for a person to be able to show the art that he bought at an NFT auction, or even paintings by Manet, Delaunay, Picasso that he has in the collection. Collectors, above all, love sharing the stories behind their acquisitions – how they fought for a particular piece at auction or the story behind how Picasso created it. They want to show it off: “Look at what I have!”

And that’s where a format like InkPoster comes in—something portable, versatile, and capable of bringing your collection to life. It’s an incredible idea. With InkPoster, you can switch between artworks and proudly showcase your collection whenever you like. Back in 2021, there was nothing like this available.

Artificial Intelligence – the most promising achievement of digitalization

AI is, without a doubt, an integral part of digitalization, but I think it deserves special attention on its own. We have tools like ChatGPT and MidJourney – and now, it feels like anyone can be an artist! That’s exactly how it seems to me. For instance, I have a friend who’s a marketer from New York. He’s been diving deep into this field, and honestly, you could already call him a modern artist. Using MidJourney, he creates images of himself in various roles, creating contemporary art content.

Another important role of AI is its ability to make art more accessible for people with disabilities. For example, AI can describe a painting to someone with vision impairments, helping them experience art in ways that were previously unimaginable. Through technology like virtual reality, people can access information, visit museums, and attend VR exhibitions. Many artists are now using VR in museums to enhance their displays. Nowadays anyone can explore art collections from the comfort of their own homes.

Ecology and global changes

Ecology remains a consistently relevant topic. From plastic recycling to global warming, these issues are becoming increasingly intertwined with art. For example, artist Olafur Eliasson brings icebergs to cities, allowing them to melt as a powerful statement about climate change.

I believe that, eventually, we’ll move away from traditional canvases on walls – though how soon this happens, I can’t say. It might take 5, 10, or even 20 years. But already, we see signs pointing in this direction. For one, there are the protests at places like Tate, MoMA, National Gallery, where eco-activists pour paint on artworks to draw attention to environmental concerns. For another, the global situation is uncertain, and it seems likely that people will try to minimize the number of things they possess. Perhaps auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s will survive, showcasing only the most exclusive pieces – but even that’s not guaranteed.

Painting, as much as I love it, is becoming less practical in modern life. Transporting 30 works from one place to another – or even from one country to another – is a massive challenge, and that’s coming from an artist, not a collector. Those with large collections need specialized storage facilities, like offshore warehouses or airports.

The ideal solution, and what I believe we’ll ultimately transition to, is digital posters. They allow us to easily transport entire collections while ensuring nothing is lost, even in the event of a disaster—whether a fire, a flood, or any other calamity. Digital posters preserve art as valuable assets while addressing the logistical and ecological challenges of traditional formats.

War, politics, activism, and responsibility

The war has affected me in an unexpected way. Instead of reflecting the darkness around me, I turned to escapism and began creating bright, colorful works – almost as a way to save myself from all the chaos that fell upon us. Before the war, my paintings were more dramatic, with dark, black tones. Now, they’ve become almost overwhelmingly vivid. But even in these bright works, I still see a certain heaviness. They’re not simple or light in meaning. For me, this series is deeply complex.

The trend of emphasizing activism and awareness in art is especially prominent in Ukraine, which makes sense given our circumstances. The war has forced people to speak out, and those who can create art addressing these realities are doing something truly powerful. We have many incredible artists working in this direction. For instance, Zhanna Kadyrova – she has always tackled relevant social and political issues through her art. But this approach isn’t new; there have always been world-class artists like Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramovic, Banksy, who take current social and political problems and reflect them through their work.

This trend has existed for a long time. Now, however, because of the way the world has changed – with Covid, war, and other crises – it feels even more urgent. The world seems to be contracting, bracing for a shift. In any case, there will be a reordering of the global landscape – everyone senses it. And artists, being emotionally and mentally sensitive people, naturally transmit this through their art.

As a result, more artists are focusing on current social and political topics, engaging in activism. Activist art has always been in demand – it sells well. Pieces addressing timely issues often attract collectors, political strategists, lawyers. There’s almost always a line of buyers for such work.

Figurative art, meaningfulness, and spirituality

Recently, art has shifted away from abstraction and become more figurative. In the past, there was a greater focus on abstraction and inner impulses. Now, artists are presenting more personal and introspective images. 

In London’s galleries, figurative art is everywhere. Much of it speaks to spirituality or explores unique worlds that artists create. A return to figurative art, with clear and defined imagery, has become one of the key trends in contemporary art. Many artists are revisiting and reimagining classical subjects, like those from the Renaissance, giving them a modern twist and expressing them in their own unique styles. This kind of reinterpretation is very relevant right now.

Hyperrealism remains popular – it has always sold well – but it isn’t as prevalent as one might think. Instead, I see a kind of figurative freedom emerging. It’s reminiscent of what Basquiat once represented, or the imagery you’d find on garage doors, but now it’s evolving into softer, shinier, more inflated forms. There’s an incredible diversity among artists today. We’ve long moved past the time when a single, dominant style defined an era. It finished with Art Nouveau period, when there was a unified aesthetic – everything looked like an Alphonse Mucha poster, and that was it. Now, there are no rules. Everyone creates in their own way. You can be whoever you want as an artist. The key is to stay true to yourself and not lose your individuality.

But the boundaries between art styles have blurred over time as well. If you trace the history of art, you see how it evolved. At first, artists were restricted to depicting only religious figures, then kings, then nobles, and eventually ordinary people – like laundresses. It was revolutionary when everyday life began appearing in art. From there, the possibilities kept expanding.

Now, nothing can truly shock us. You could walk into a gallery and see a rotting piece of meat on display. That’s the world we live in now.