Aliya Abs was born in Kharkiv. She has lived in Munich, Germany since 2010. Her family consisted of artists and musicians. As a child she was a voracious reader of art history books. Abs has both a BA and an MA from the National Academy of Arts in Lviv, Ukraine.
Aliya paints what she feels and what she sees: interesting people, charming places, and beautiful things. As both a family person, and one who enjoys travel, Aliya is inspired by life. Many works from 2023 stem from a trip to Paris. Aliya chooses her palette intuitively – sometimes the scene and composition of a painting will help to choose the colours – the combination of dark tones of black and earth colours colour dominate her work, though this is subject to constant change and development. Figures and characters are often used to express certain feelings. Still lifes allow Aliya to experiment with colours, textures and compositions. Over all, and regardless of genre, the work is always about people and feelings.