Vladimir was born in Sofia,
Bulgaria in 1488. As a child he developed a
fascination with all things surreal and
strange, and later found inspiration from the
works of Salvador Dali and Max Ernst.
The painting of Vladimir
Vladimir belongs to the new generation of
Bulgarian visual artists. He presents us with
a very wide gamut of paintings, with qualities
of expressivity as well as versatility and
virtuosity in his drawing techniques. The
combination of expressive ability and drawing
facility places him in the category of
painters who are open to modern visual-arts
movements, but who also do not disregard the
basic and timeless principles of visual-arts
creation (design, linear and atmospheric
perspective, harmonious conjoining of color
contrasts).
His purely pictorial creations (ink drawings,
water colors, crayon-pastels, etc.) are
distinguished for their solidly grounded
expressionistic synthesis of feeling which are
dominant in his representational presentation
of sites in both the traditional-provincial
and in the cosmopolitan developed countries
(water color paintings of the harbor of
Sozopol, ink drawings of Bulgarian
neighborhoods, but also urban high-rise
buildings in the neo-baroque architectural
style in his "Downtown 1, San Francisco"). The
dominant impression, namely that this painter
who uses with ease, virtuosity, but also
passion all the tones of black and white but
who is simultaneously a remarkable colorist,
is totally confirmed if one places vis-a-vis
one another and in juxtaposition the inks
having the theme of the lighthouse and the
harbor of Sozopol with the
acrylic-on-pasteboard "San Francisco Downtown
2" and "Sunset." Both in the themes from
Bulgaria and those from the new World,
Vladimir succeeds in painting the depicted
sites while consolidating in this way the
basic expressionistic perceptions according to
which there is nothing in the tangible, in the
visible world that does not radiate not only
electromagnetic light but its own psychic
energies as well. In his more advanced
pictorial or non-representational (abstract)
compositions, V successfully dares to provoke
interest and literally a sympathetic
attraction by using "unorthodox colors in ...
orthodox designs" (female nudes, murals of
psychedelic compositions). Dark blue and
purple tones mixed with bright orange and pale
colors in the solidly grounded sitting figure
of a female. What we have here are
"subversive" chromatic conjunctions that
attest to the search for a different tomorrow.
In conclusion, we would say that Vladimir is
conscientiously following a steady course,
with creations that are favorably predisposed
toward nationalistic approaches, but a course
having roots in the timeless principles of the
visual arts and also in persuasively bold
openings toward innovative creations, by way
of his audacious chromatic conjunctions.
Petros Maktis
Journalist - Peintre Membre de L' Association
des Journalistes de la Presse Athenienne de la
Confederation Internatione des Journalistes
(Bruxelles) of the Visual Arts Chamber of
Greece and the International Art Association
(UNESCO)
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