LEYLA CUI
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About
Leyla Cui (2002) is an award-winning illustrator, artist, and writer based in New York City. She draws upon literary, philosophical, and psychoanalytic references to construct visual narratives that oscillate between vulnerability and strength, intimacy and distance, fantasy and reality. See more on Artsy.
Her recent projects include Between Dreamscapes (solo, Temple Gallery, NYC, 2024), which examined the instability of memory and the dream state, and Switchboard (SVA Chelsea Gallery, 2025). She was selected for the NYC Subway Public Art Initiative (Visionary Projects, 2024), bringing her exploration of intimacy and identity into the public sphere.
Her recognition includes the BIBF International Illustration Awards Longlist (2025), iJungle Global Illustration Competition—Self-Promotion Merit (2025) and New Talent Merit (2023), and finalist in the Booooooom Illustration Awards (Dec 2024, top 200 of 7,000). Her work and interviews have appeared in Artsy, Art To Hearts, Divide, Suboart, Artsin Square, and Bold Journey; see her submission on Booooooom. At 17, she published I Was Meant to Meet You While Wandering (Beijing Arts and Crafts Publishing House, 2020), a collection of nearly 200 poems with paintings and illustrations, marking the beginning of her exploration into the intersections of word, image, and emotion.
Education:
2022-2023 Studio Art (BFA) at New York University
2023-2026 illustration (BA) at the School of the Visual Arts, expected to graduate in 2026
Awards and Publications:
2024
2023
2020
Student Runner -up
BIBF International Illustration Awards
Longlisted Illustrator
Bold Journey Magazine
Individual Artist Interview
iJungle Global Illustration Competition
Self-promotion Merit Award
Artsy article report
Solo Exhibition, Temple Gallery, NYC
Booooooom Illustration Awards
Selected as one of the 200 finalist winners among over
7,000 participants
NYC Subway Public Art Initiative, Visionary
Projects
Selected as one of 15 artists from hundreds to display
artwork across NYC subway station dioramas
Art To Heart Project
Chosen winner for 101 Art Book: Portrait Edition
Emerging Woman Artsist Award shortlist winner
Divide Magazine
Selected artist with an interview on the creative
process
ArtsinSquare Magazine
Chosen winner for Issue 7 publication among global
artists
Suboart Magazine
Chosen winner from 400 global artists, November
Issue
iJungle Global Illustration Competition
New Talent Merit Award
Individual Poetry Collection, I Am Meant to Meet
You While Wandering Published by Beijing Arts and
Crafts Publishing House, China
Selected Exhibitions:
2024
2023
2021
2019
December, Desire-Body Without Organs, A Space Gallery, New York City
November-December, Betweemn Dreamscapes, Temple Gallery, New York City
November-December, Beyond Boudaries, Artsinsquare, Virtual Exhibition
June-August, The Imaginary Made Real, Berry
Campbell Gallery, Chelsea, New York City
July-August, A Happy Beginning, LATITUDE Gallery, New York City
July-Aug, Genesis: A New Generation of Chinese Artists, Chambers Fine Art Gallery, Salt Point, NY
February, Resonance, Barney Gallery with New York University, New York
May-June, Metamorphosis, HongTang Culture Communication Gallery, Shanghai, China
September-October, Holding hands, The Space Gallery, Shanghai, China
Published Individual Poetry Collection, 2020
Translated Selections, Postcard Edition