Winter Fresh by Ilya Volykhine ❄️
Winter Fresh is a new solo exhibition exploring winter sport, après-ski culture, and the moments in between. Featuring eleven new oil paintings, the exhibition captures the thrill, humour, and quiet togetherness of alpine life, playful, human, and richly layered.
Volykhine’s distinctive figures, elongated, expressive, and often slightly off-balance, populate snowy slopes, ice rinks, and post-ski social scenes. These works plunge headfirst into the exhilarating, awkward, and joyful world of winter sports, capturing both the thrill and the absurdity of life on and off the mountain.
Known for his richly layered surfaces, Volykhine combines oil paint with collage elements, text fragments, and bold colour to create paintings that feel quietly narrative and deeply human. Mid-air snowboarders shred while their friends look on, and bundled-up skiers gather in moments that feel both communal and introspective. These are not heroic sporting scenes, but honest, humorous reflections on movement, connection, and shared experience.
Having lived in Queenstown with his family for two years, Volykhine’s connection to alpine culture feels especially familiar. Winter Fresh celebrates not just winter sport itself, but the culture that surrounds it, the anticipation, the falls, the laughter, and the stories shared afterwards.
Volykhine’s work is held in public and private collections internationally, and he is widely recognised for bringing warmth, wit, and emotional depth to everyday experiences. This latest body of work continues that approach, offering a fresh painterly take on snow-season rituals.
This exhibition is a must-see for art lovers, winter enthusiasts, and anyone who’s ever clipped into skis full of optimism or limped into après with a story to tell.
Opening Soirée
Thursday 22 January 2026
5–7 pm
📍 Artbay Gallery, Queenstown
Exhibition Details
Exhibition dates: 22 January – 11 February 2026
Artist: Ilya Volykhine
Works: Eleven new figurative oil paintings
Theme: Winter sports & après-ski culture