Artist Monika Umba

Monika Umba specializes in painting, digital design and animation. She studied Animation and Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. Her unique painting style evolved alongside motion pictures and media based art, which is her great passion. Monika’s style can be described as surrealistic, quirky in principle, often with magical subject matter. Artist has said that her style resulted from a study of animation, American and Mexican murals and artists such as Hieronymus Bosh and Peter Breugel.

Although Monika also creates more traditional landscapes or purely decorative work, most of her works fit in style somewhere between Surrealism and Magical Realism. She looks at the mundane through a mysterious lens, ‘tongue in cheek’ and presents a fantastic quality of reality. In her paintings, we see relationships between people and become familiar with their personalities as soon as we open the shutters of their dwellings. The starting point of each painting is a question, ‘what if…” which the artist answers in a visual way according to her own experiences and imagination. Her imagery is drawn from a range of everyday situations, but embodied in forms from of unexpected juxtapositions, containing elements of surprise. The vivid palette she uses magnifies peculiarity of her works. Here strange people and half-people weightlessly flow in the air, walking their dogs, reading in the clouds or having a flamingo perched on their shoulder.

Monika’s paintings include elements of illustration, animation and painting. They often contain hidden messages and clues for the viewer leaving it to the their imagination to fill in those gaps in the image.They may be in forms of signpost, direction of movement or suggested ‘real time’ in the painting. Artist leaves the paintings ‘ajar’, under-told, encouraging the viewer to create the end of the story.

Monika was featured in Artists and Illustrators, Art Quarterly magazine, Cambridge-based Agenda and Explorer and also in Good Old Drawing book (to be published shortly). Some of Monika’s works have been used as cover illustrations for Cambridge School of Art magazines and Anglia Ruskin University stationery.

She has won numerous artistic competitions, such as:

2009 First Prize Winner, Searle Award for Creativity, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
2008 Highly commended Work, Searle Award for Creativity, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
2008 First Prize Winner in Climate Change animation competition organised by Cambridgeshire Film Consortium
2007 First Prize Winner, Competition for Young Artist, Cambridge Drawing Society

Monika has recently moved from Cambridgeshire to Wiltshire and is presently working as a freelance artworker and animator.

Uniqueness of Monika’s works, their happy and joyous atmosphere make them very popular with customers and the pieces are usually snapped upon completion.

Artist rating and reviews

Superb. This artist has received the highest accolade ArtGallery can bestow - they are considered a superb artist both through feedback from customers and from ArtGallery's own relationship with the artist. Our customers are delighted with this artist's work and their ability to deliver on time. ArtGallery has had many positive experiences with this artist and is delighted to recommend them very highly.

Carousel of Life Size: 19.50" x 19.50" Price: £645.00	Neighbours Size: 23.50" x 11.00" Price: £450.00	At No 42 (On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £595.00
Escape of the carousel creatures Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £650.00	On the Wings of Freedom Size: 15.75" x 15.75" Price: £350.00	4 Pm in Vannes Size: 23.50" x 11.50" Price: £450.00
2 Pm in a City Size: 19.50" x 19.50" Price: £260.00	Beau Street (Bath Inspired)(On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 19.50" x 19.50" Price: £645.00	Manhattan, Musical Kaleidoscope Size: 60.00" x 49.00" Price: £975.00
Burford, Oxfordshire, Cotswolds Size: 24.00" x 12.00" Price: £395.00	Parade in the Sky (On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £645.00	Love letters Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £650.00 Sold
Lost in Her Own World Size: 15.75" x 15.75" Price: £350.00 Sold	Top Hat Day Size: 16.00" x 16.00" Price: £450.00 Sold	Escape of the Little Match Girl Size: 12.00" x 12.00" Price: £350.00 Sold
"me" Time Size: 24.00" x 24.00" Price: £650.00 Sold	Cambridge Size: 16.00" x 16.00" Price: £270.00 Sold	Cambridge Size: 16.00" x 16.00" Price: £260.00 Sold
In Search of Euterpe Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £650.00 Sold	4 Pm Size: 32.00" x 12.00" Price: £475.00 Sold	Sky Ride 3 Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £650.00 Sold
Canary Song Et Cetera Size: 16.00" x 16.00" Price: £450.00 Sold	Neighbours (On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 32.00" x 12.00" Price: £475.00 Sold	Tea Break Size: 16.00" x 16.00" Price: £300.00 Sold
Countryside (On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 16.00" x 12.00" Price: £225.00 Sold	Kite Flying On a Bank Holiday (On Display At the Art Gallery, Tetbury) Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £650.00 Sold	Waiting Size: 32.00" x 12.00" Price: £380.00 Sold
Southwold Cottages, Suffolk Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £295.00 Sold	2pm Size: 40.00" x 16.00" Price: £390.00 Sold	Walking With Border Collies Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £190.00 Sold
City Life 2 Size: 12.00" x 10.00" Price: £95.00 Sold	Lacock Village, Wiltshire Size: 12.00" x 10.00" Price: £175.00 Sold	24 7 Carousel Size: 16.00" x 12.00" Price: £225.00 Sold
Games People Play Size: 16.00" x 12.00" Price: £225.00 Sold	3pm Size: 16.00" x 12.00" Price: £195.00 Sold	In Search of the Inner Song Size: 16.00" x 11.50" Price: £225.00 Sold
A Piece of Sky in Leicester Square, London Size: 40.00" x 16.00" Price: £249.00 Sold	Golden Seas Size: 23.50" x 23.50" Price: £570.00 Sold	Walk in the Clouds Size: 16.00" x 11.50" Price: £225.00 Sold
Life Is a Journey Size: 16.00" x 11.50" Price: £200.00 Sold	15 Hands of Happiness Size: 16.00" x 11.50" Price: £200.00 Sold	1 P.M. Size: 40.00" x 16.00" Price: £295.00 Sold
5 P.M. Size: 40.00" x 16.00" Price: £300.00 Sold	Waiting Size: 18.00" x 23.50" Price: £495.00 Sold	Cerulean Sky in Bath Size: 35.50" x 23.50" Price: £791.00 Sold
The Journey To New Beginnings Size: 23.50" x 23.50" Price: £280.00 Sold	Pewsey, Wiltshire Size: 20.00" x 20.00" Price: £180.00 Sold	Cambridge, Magdalene Street Size: 23.50" x 23.50" Price: £250.00 Sold
Magdalene Street, Cambridge Size: 23.50" x 23.50" Price: £250.00 Sold

49 artworks.