Veronika Benoni has enjoyed painting from a very early age and so, her career path was any obvious one. Though she knew that it would demand a lot of hard study, Veronika received her greatest support from her grandfather, an architect. Her childhood memories of connecting through the act of painting with her grandpa remain her inspiration and the utmost joy of her life.
She left secondary school early to enter the Sukhumi College of Arts, moving on to the Serov’s Arts College in Leningrad. After graduating, she continued at the USSR Academy of Arts. Throughout college, she was devoted to her studies and enjoyed the atmosphere of freedom and creativity.
It was while on summer vacation that she reconnected with her future husband, Ulian. He had been a fellow classmate at Sukhumi College, and was now working in elliptic and panoramic perspective theory. Veronika, having undergone many phases of artistic styles, grew interested in adapting his style to her impressionism. Together they developed a style uniquely their own.
The pair turned their skills towards jewelry art for many years as silver-smiths and pieces designed by them became bestsellers in top jewelry stores in Leningrad and Moscow. The world renowned Central House of Artists in Moscow exhibited their work.
Because of the political instability in what was then the Soviet Union, the couple moved to Prague in 1994. Veronika, inspired by the delightful streets and beautiful architecture of Old Prague, began painting pictures strongly influenced by the city.
In 1998 the Benoni’s set up their school of painting and graphics. Three years later they opened their first picture gallery in Mall Strana central Prague. The Benoni School specializes in new artistic techniques of perspective; they hope to create paintings that places the viewer into the center of a city or landscape. Alesha Sranda, Jarda Khalupka, Natalie Pecha, Ruvim Tartakovsky and Victor Oster are some of the well-known painters that have been taught by Veronika and Ulian.
Veronika now works on canvas, and paints mainly in acrylics, cleverly embellishing her work with silver and gold leaf.
