Victoria Fomina’s paintings make viewers want to jump down the rabbit hole with her into a charmingly surreal world of detail and colour, crafted in the artist’s unique style. Her interests include painting, graphics, design and illustration. Vastly experienced, she has illustrated over 50 books for leading publishers, from classic fairy tales and novels to biographies of the great composers.
Victoria works for clients around the world including What on Earth Publishing with His Majesty King Charles III, Märtha Louise Princess of Norway, Gallimard Jeunesse, Penguin Random House, Kingfisher, Rizzoli, Grimm Press, Samsung and Vogue.
She has taken part in exhibitions in Israel, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Estonia, France, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Poland and Hungary.
Awards
1999 - The Golden Pen of Belgrade – First prize (Serbia)
2002 – A finalist of Bologna Children’s book fair show (Italy)
2003 - The Golden Apple Bratislava - First prize (Slovakia)
2004 – A finalist of Bologna Children’s book fair show (Italy)
2009 - Tallinn Illustrators Triennial Power of Pictures - Diploma (Estonia)
2017 - Gold Award, Global Illustration Award - First prize Frankfurt (Germany)
2019 - Nami Concours - Purple Island Award (South Korea)
2019 - AOI. Poster Prize for Illustration - London Stories. Shortlist (Great Britain)
2019 - Book Illustration Festival BookILL Fest - Special prize (Novo Miloševo, Serbia)
2020 - Nomination for The Hans Christian Andersen Award (IBBY)
2021 - American Illustration 40. Winner (USA)
2022 - American Illustration 41. Winner (USA)
2023 - American Illustration 42. Winner (USA)
Selected exhibitions
1997 - Biennial of Illustration. Bratislava, Slovakia.
1998 -Selected illustrators from BIB. Hiroko Mori & Stasys Museum. Okumonobe Art museum. Art Gallery of Daiwa Niigata. Baiennosato Art Gallery. Japan.
1998 - Biennale of book graphics. International Biennial of Illustration. Belgrade, Serbia.
2001 - Biennale of European illustrations. Japan.
2001 - Biennale of book graphics. International Biennial of Illustration. Belgrade, Serbia.
2002 - Bologna International Exhibition of illustrations. Bologna International illustration. Bologna, Italy.
2002 - International Book Exhibition. Taipei (Taiwan)
2002 - BIB Japan. Urawa Art Museum. Japan.
2002 - Illustrators of Children's books. Itabashi Art Museum. Tokyo. Japan.
2002 - Participation in a multicultural, multi-media project «Responding to Climat Change" UNFCC
2003 - BIB Japan. Kijo Ehon-no Sato Gallery. Iida City Museum. Japan.
2003 - Bratislava World illustration. Bratislava, Slovakia.
2003 - Power of Pictures. Tallinn. Estonia.
2004 - Bologna International Exhibition of illustrations. Bologna, Italy.
2004 - Illustrators of Children's books. Itabashi Art Museum. Tokyo. Japan.
2005 - Bratislava World illustration. Bratislava, Slovakia.
2005 - “Un automne russe à Bordeaux”. The exhibition of book graphics. France.
2006 - “Power of Pictures”. Tallinn. Estonia.
2009 - “Power of Pictures”. Tallinn. Estonia.
2009 - Exhibition "Five Russian artists." Gallery "Illustratsioonigalerii". Tallinn. Ilon Wikland Museum. Haapsalu. Estonia.
2011 - Sea Fairy Tales. Eurajoki. Finland.
2011 - 2012 "Dear JAPAN. Messages of hope from picture book artists around the world ". Itabashi (Tokyo), Chiyoda (Tokyo), Kanazawa (Ishikawa), Sendai (Miyagi). Japan.
2012 - “Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales”. Kuressaare (Saaremaa). Estonia
2012 - "Two Centuries After". Casa Saraceni. Bologna. Italy.
2013 - Solo Exhibition. Jointly with Katya Silina. Gallery "Illustratsioonigalerii". Tallinn
2014 - «Bee Art». Gallery Faszination Art. Hamburg.
2015 - «Phantastische Venus» Viechtach, Old City Hall. Germany.
2015 - «It’s Always Tea-Time». The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre. Tallinn. Estonia.
2016 - «It’s Always Tea-Time». Cultural Center Cruselli . Uusikaupunki, Finland.
2017 - «It’s Always Tea-Time». Les Art Center. Berlin. Germany. Baltic Sea Culture Centre. Gdansk, Poland
2017 - "GIA". Frankfurter Buchmesse. Frankfurt, Germany
2017 - «It’s Always Tea-Time». Deak 12 Gallery. Budapest, Hungary
2018 - "It’s Always Tea-Time". Тhe Story Museum. Oxford. Great Britain
2018 - "Art Revolution Taipei" Finalist's artworks of 2018 International Artist Grand Prize. Chan Liu Art Museum. Taiwan
2018 - "International Biennale of Illustration" Haifa, Israel
2018 - "Snow White" Beijing International Book Fair. Beijing. China
2019 -"The Poster Prize for Illustration". 100 best illustrations. The London Transport Museum. London. Great Britain
2019 - Solo Exhibition, Bologna Children's Book Fair. Bologna, Italy
2019 - "Nami Concours. Exhibition of competition winners. Seoul, South Korea
2019 - Exhibition of winners of Book Illustration Festival "BookILL Fest" ( Novo Miloševo, Serbia)
2019 - Solo Exhibition. Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019. Frankfurt, Germany
2019 - « It's Like Snow» The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre. Tallinn. Estonia.
2020 - «My Dear Pinocchio», Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea.
2020 - “International Exibition of Illustrations in Haifa”, Haifa, Israel
2021 – «My Dear Pinocchio», Changwon Art Museum, Changwon, South Korea.
2022 – “Fox Spirit – Fox Charm”. Gallery "Illustratsioonigalerii". Tallinn. Estonia.
2022 - «My Dear Pinocchio», Gangwon Institute of Design Promotion. Chuncheon City, South Korea
2023 - «My Dear Pinocchio», 'Naru Arts Center' Foundation for Arts & Culture, Gwangjin, South Korea