Ksenia Poncet, French, Russian born artist.

She drew her first sketches at the age of five and spent part of her childhood in the silent and dark rooms of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Then, at the age of thirteen, her dream finally came true. She pushed open the doors of the Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy, a legendary place, and took drawing and painting classes at Elvira Tibilova’s workshop. This learning period was strongly influenced by modern art, which the budding artist discovered in Russian and European museums. Leningrad, which had been the Soviet showcase for many years, once again became St. Petersburg, Russia’s window onto Europe first opened by Peter the Great several centuries before. Inspired by this overwhelming encounter at the crossroads of two worlds, Ksenia made a series of pastels, watercolors and Indian ink drawings in a style similar to symbolism, under the influence of the works of Mikalojus Ciurlionis.

Following the path of those Russian artists who had left the country to study in Paris before the revolution, Ksenia entered the Sorbonne, where she discovered conceptual and performance arts, and, in parallel, the performing arts. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and decided to put her artistic activity on hold, seeking to channel her entrepreneurial spirit and talents by continuing her studies and obtaining a Master in Business Engineering at ESCG Paris and a Master of Finance at INSEEC Paris Business School. She started her career working in business development teams in asset management and IT systems for the financial sector. Then she left Paris and created her own company in the Rhône-Alpes region. From time to time, Ksenia escaped to her studio and gradually filled it with abstract paintings, until one day, while on holidays in St. Petersburg, an old family album felt into her hands. This inspired her to paint the life of Russians during the Soviet period, marking her return to the past, and her encounter with her roots and with herself. This was the final push that made her to become a full-time artist. Since she had worked for more than four years as volunteering artist for the United Nations Women’s Guild, where she contributed through her art to fundraising projects and events to help children in vulnerable situations all over the world. Ksenia also participated to several collective exhibitions and recently became muralist and created a huge mural for the lobby of the faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures of the University of Nantes in France. She is currently working on murals commissioned by other French universities and public organizations.

Furthermore, Ksenia participated in 2020 to the 2020 Generation Equality Asia Pacific Design Challenge organized by UN Woman Asia and World Design Organization where she created a campaign « Name it! » intended to combat violence against women and girls.

Her studies of art and several years of practice have led her to become constantly curious polyvalent artist exploring the limits of mediums as ways of expression. Thus, she remains in permanent development and research of artistic improvement of her work testing new mediums, new techniques and new technologies in traditional painting, street art and design.

Ksenia’s multinational origins and knowledge of several languages also play an important role in the development of her distinctive artistic style. Furthermore, her personal experiences of long-term travelling, diplomatic postings, and encounters with people from different cultures influence a lot her work.

Ksenia Poncet lived and worked in several European countries, Russia and the United States. Now she lives between The Hague, Netherlands and Saint-Tropez, France.