About me
DENIS BORODAYEV, PhD
Short Artist Profiles — Fabriano
Košice, Slovakia
Denis Borodayev, PhD, is a Ukrainian-born watercolor artist, graphic designer, printmaker and art educator based in Košice, Slovakia.
He received classical art training at the Kharkiv State Art School and graduated in Graphic Design from the Kharkiv Art and Industrial Institute. In 2004, he earned a PhD in design. Before settling in Slovakia in 2011, he worked in Kyiv as a graphic designer and art director for international advertising, publishing and media companies, including Grey Worldwide, JWT and Independent Media.
His current artistic practice is focused primarily on watercolor. He paints urban and architectural scenes, winter landscapes, sacred interiors and quiet moments of human presence. Light is the central structural and emotional element in his work. Fog, rain, reflections, long shadows and subtle transitions between warm and cool tones transform recognizable places into spaces of memory, silence and contemplation.
His method combines disciplined drawing with transparent washes, layered glazes, selective detail and large tonal masses. He often works with a limited palette and preserves the white of the paper as an active source of light. His current artistic direction, developed in the series Silent Geometry of Light, explores the relationship between architecture, atmosphere, memory and inner stillness.
His watercolors have been selected for international exhibitions in Italy, Japan, Poland, Slovakia, Vietnam and Mexico, including FabrianoInAcquarello 2026, the Japan Nadeshiko Watercolor Triennale 2026, the 4th International Art Festival FINEnes – Echo of Form, Bratislava International Watercolor Festival, SAIGON AQUARELLE: VIBRANT COLOURS, and the III Festival Internacional de Arte – Ríos de Color. His watercolor Bergamo. Between Light and Shadow was selected among the Top 100 works at the Museo Nacional de Acuarela in Mexico.
Borodayev also has a long-standing printmaking practice. His linocuts were selected for eleven editions of Mini Print International de Cadaqués, Spain, between 1995 and 2008.
