Kayla Jankowski: Finding Stillness in the Abstract

At 38, Kayla Jankowski has emerged as one of the most compelling new voices in contemporary fine art. From her light-filled studio in Las Vegas, she creates paintings that feel like meditations—textured, emotive, and deeply human. Each canvas carries layers of movement and memory, balancing chaos and calm with a precision that feels spiritual.

Collectors describe her work as “a dialogue between emotion and atmosphere,” a reflection of Jankowski herself. Her passions—wellness, travel, cooking, and interior design—are extensions of the same creative instinct that fuels her art. Every space she touches feels intentional, grounded, and alive.

“Everything I create starts with a feeling,” she says. “I’m always trying to translate the emotional undercurrents of life—grief, joy, hope, healing—into visual language.” Growing up near the ocean in Kihei shaped her sense of rhythm and flow. “Emotion has a tide, and so does paint. I let the brush follow those invisible currents until the piece starts breathing on its own.”

Color plays a cinematic role in her process. “I’m a very sensory person,” Jankowski explains. “Colors arrive to me like sounds or scents—coral pink and lavender from a morning sky, deep ultramarine from the Pacific before rain. Sometimes it’s a taste or smell that triggers a palette, like citrus or smoke.” She builds texture through layering and erasure—scraping, sanding, and rebuilding until the surface feels alive. “It’s like emotional topography. Each surface carries history, memory, and vulnerability. That’s why I love designing spaces and furniture too; they’re environments where color, texture, and light quietly tell stories of belonging and calm.”

Her work also explores the balance between chaos and control, a dynamic that mirrors her own nature. “My process always begins in chaos—paint flying, layers building with no rules or judgment. Then comes the slower dialogue: editing, reshaping, listening,” she says.

“It’s the same balance I seek in life. I meditate every morning at sunrise, but I also embrace spontaneity and imperfection.”

For Jankowski, abstraction is a form of emotional translation. “My goal isn’t to tell a literal story—it’s to invite emotional resonance,” she says. “A certain blue might hold grief for me but serenity for someone else, and that’s the magic. Art should leave room for the viewer’s own narrative to unfold. I approach interiors in the same way, creating spaces that hold emotional openness, that feel like an exhale the moment you walk in.”

Her rise has been both fast and authentic, marked by moments of recalibration. “The biggest challenge has been staying true to myself amid modern life—what’s selling, what’s trending, who’s watching,” she admits. “I took a pause a few years ago and traveled to Japan, Portugal, and France. That reset everything. It reminded me that art isn’t about speed or success; it’s about sincerity.” Staying grounded, she says, comes from simple rituals: sunrise meditation, coffee on the balcony, ocean walks, and unstructured studio time.

Curiosity remains her driving force. “Every day, I’m amazed by how color behaves or how texture can hold emotion,” she says. “My passions—wellness, cooking, travel, interior design—all feed my creativity. Cooking, for instance, is a sensory meditation; it’s about layering and patience, just like painting.” Looking ahead, she envisions immersive environments that blend painting, furniture design, and scent—spaces that invite presence and serenity. “I want my work to breathe with the viewer, to feel like a sanctuary for the senses.”

In person, Jankowski radiates a calm intensity, a quiet conviction born from living intentionally. Her paintings, much like her process, invite the viewer to slow down, feel deeply, and reconnect with their own rhythm. As the art world races toward trends and immediacy, Kayla Jankowski stands apart by honoring something timeless: the emotional truth at the heart of creation.

“Beauty isn’t about perfection,” she says. “It’s about presence. It’s about allowing the messiness and the magic to exist side by side.”

In that balance—between control and surrender, silence and expression—Jankowski has found her voice, her home, and a new definition of contemporary beauty.