PAINTING
NADIYA SPILLER
 
DETAILS
Canvas, texture paste, acrylic
70 × 90 cm 
2025
 
DESCRIPTION
Good Girl reveals what appears pleasing at first glance — and withdraws in the next moment.
A gentle face, flowers in her hair, warm tones. At first, her gaze seems open, almost innocent. Yet this innocence quickly shifts: it feels deliberate, controlled — like a mask chosen to meet expectations without surrendering to them.
The honeycomb-like structure is not decorative. It functions as a system — a grid of order, attribution, and social role expectations. It overlays the face like a framework imposed from the outside, creating distance where intimacy is assumed.
The hand gesture quietly contradicts this image. No outcry, no drama — but a silent refusal. Not aggressive, not provocative, but self-determined.
This work is dedicated to the many “good girls.” An invitation to release imposed duties and inherited expectations. To trust one’s own perception. To take one’s own thoughts and will seriously. Not against the world. But for oneself.
 
BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST
Nadiya Spiller (born 28 July 1979 in Donetsk, Ukraine) is a Berlin-based ophthalmologist and contemporary artist. Originally trained as a medical doctor in Donetsk and Dresden, she has worked in ophthalmology in Germany since 2007 and became board-certified in 2021. In 2025 she earned her doctoral degree from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
Alongside her medical career, Nadiya has pursued art since receiving the title Artist of Ukraine in 1997. In 2021 she developed her distinctive pixel-texture painting technique, which has been exhibited in Cairo and Berlin, including the solo shows Timeless Pixels (2022) and Art as a Weapon (2024).
She speaks Ukrainian and Russian natively, is fluent in German, and has good command of English. Nadiya lives in Berlin with her husband and three sons.