I’m Stacey, an Armenian painter currently based in London. Trained in academic art in Moscow, I later developed a more contemporary visual language through studies at Parsons in New York, Central Saint Martins and Goldsmiths in London.
After moving to London, my practice became less about following what I had been taught and more about unlearning it: stripping away rules, polish and expectation to create work that feels unmistakably my own.
I’ve been painting for over 15 years. My work is rooted in personal experience, embodiment, human relationships and the way we learn to perceive ourselves through others. Working primarily in oil, I create raw, intimate and provocative paintings that sit between vulnerability and confrontation.
My practice is driven by the desire to take what society often treats as shameful, uncomfortable or imperfect and make it visible, powerful and beautiful. Through my work, I aim to create a sense of release: an invitation to look without apology, to feel without shame, and to return to the body as something lived in, not judged from the outside.
My paintings explore desire, intimacy and the female gaze.
I’m interested in the moments we usually keep to ourselves: the quiet confidence, longing, pleasure and vulnerability that exist behind closed doors. My attraction to these subjects comes from a deeply personal place. As a curvy woman, I grew up rarely seeing bodies like mine portrayed as worthy of desire, tenderness or admiration. Painting them has become an act of reclaiming that gaze not only for myself, but for anyone who has ever felt excluded from conventional ideas of beauty. I’m inviting viewers to see softness, age, curves and perceived imperfections as something desirable rather than something to overcome.
Most of my work begins with a feeling. Sometimes it’s a gesture, a glance or a pose that carries both strength and softness at once. I’m drawn to those contradictions. I don’t believe desire and vulnerability cancel each other out; I think they often exist together.
Working primarily in oil and acrylic, I build surfaces slowly through thick paint, visible brushstrokes and layered textures. I want the paintings to feel tactile and alive, leaving traces of every decision rather than hiding the process behind a polished finish. The materiality of paint becomes another way of talking about touch.
I often crop the body or isolate small moments instead of presenting a complete figure. A hand, a mouth, a shoulder or a fleeting expression can sometimes hold more emotional weight than a full portrait. By removing narrative, I invite the viewer to bring their own experiences and memories into the work.
Ultimately, I’m interested in expanding how desire is represented in contemporary painting. My work shifts the gaze away from performance and towards lived experience, creating space for sensuality that feels playful, honest, imperfect and unapologetically human.