ABOUT MY WORK

I’m a Bulgarian born, New Zealand raised artist who lives in the United States.

I create figure drawings, fine art photographs and acrylic paintings with an openness to explore and experiment with different art mediums. My photography and paintings shift between surrealism and abstraction, depending on whether the purpose is to capture a feeling or describe a situation. One medium usually inspires an idea for the other. Most of the subject matter is science, psychology and philosophy driven.

DRAWING

The drawings are inspired by the human body during live figure-drawing sessions. The final work is a factual rendering with a personal twist. This twist is usually an interpretation of a mood or a hint of a perceived personality trait lifted from the model’s pose. The initial charcoal gesture lines, which capture the essence of the pose, serve as the backbone for the drawing as I move through the page to find the main anchor points of the figure. Ink is sometimes used instead of charcoal because it is an unforgiving medium and that is incredibly exciting. It forces a quick, intense state of concentration unlike the process I use with my other mediums. The image is a more familiar, realistic yet slightly dramatized view of ourselves.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The photography concepts come to me as a clear visual. These images are usually inspired by the figure drawings, but offer a more literal, physical interpretation of the Self.

The rich, black background mimics the comfort of what I imagine our conscious and subconscious environment to be, where the human body is only representational. The conversation starts circling around the human emotional and mental state, internal self image, hopes and dreams, driving the visuals into the surreal. 

My photographs are done in a pitch black setting using long exposure photography and a set of small flash lights with handmade pinhole attachments at the end. I paint the subject in a very specific light which helps me mold the mood and design of the final piece. The process is about control, experimentation and discovery. The image is created in one take and by the end, one photograph contains the information of a set of movements over time. The manipulation of light and exposure length helps produce visual effects that capture glimpses of what I imagine the Self and the void of consciousness to be. The use of a wide angle lens adds additional flattering distortion to the form - helping it achieve a surreal feel.

PAINTING

My paintings dip into a wide range of topics such as playful visual interpretations of some of the science micro and macro relationships in nature. Sometimes my acrylic paintings are an extension of my photography work, extracting and expanding upon the color combination results in those photographs. I usually begin by sketching a grey scale design, and then play with different colored tangrams to find the palette and balance of color. From this point, it is a constant dialogue with the canvas to get to the final vision. The result is a surrealist painting with a narrative or an abstract work capturing a feeling.

I am constantly reflecting on the information that I soak up to imbue in my artwork. The topics of science, change, and our departure from nature are incredibly relevant to people and to the environment we live in and create. Our understanding of these issues now will influence our choices tomorrow. 

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