Nastya (Anastasia) Varlamova is a Russian artist and illustrator based in Portugal.

A 2014 graduate of the British Higher School of Art and Design, she has developed a multifaceted illustration career, collaborating with agencies such as BBDO and BangBang in Moscow and creating memorable visual campaigns for a variety of brands. She has also participated in Portuguese illustration festivals including Braga em Risco and Fólio Ilustra, gaining recognition within the artistic community of Northern Portugal.

 

Living in Portugal since 2019, Nastya draws profound inspiration from the country’s distinctive light, its landscapes, and both cultural and natural richness: from the diversity of greens found in Madeira and São Miguel to the expansive skies and ornamental details embedded in the local visual culture.

Educated in Russia, she absorbed a rich cultural and artistic background that continues to inform her visual thinking.

This foundation, shaped by a different historical and aesthetic context, now enters into dialogue with her experience of living in Portugal. The intersection of these two cultural worlds is reflected in her work through a heightened sensitivity to color, form, and rhythm, guiding her transition into abstract fine art.

 

Working primarily with pencil, Nastya explores rhythm, texture, and color as emotional and physiological experiences. For her, color is not merely a tool but a sensory reality capable of evoking direct emotional response. Vivid hues, ornamental structures, natural motifs, and the influence of bright skies and landscapes merge within her abstract compositions. Her work reflects a meditative return to analogue expression, transforming personal experience into a harmonious visual language of tone, structure, and rhythm.