Gallery Portfolio:

Margarita Mileva, Upcycled
Contemporary jewelry.

Artist's statement:

The ever-changing character of the contemporary architectural office, where standard tools become obsolete replaced by digital technology, inspires my work on a collection of necklaces as well as on other art projects and installations. For my collection " Recycling of the Architectural Office " I began reusing paperclips, punched business cards, rubber bands, mosaic stones, presentation wire binding elements and ribbons. I find joy in creating new experiences in this unique way of working with color rich, nontraditional materials and textures. Gradually, the rubber bands have become my material of choice. When creating rubber-band dresses, jewelry and accessories, I have the feeling of drawing and painting using the rubber bands as my media of choice and color palette. It is very inspiring for me to observe the reaction of the people viewing my wearable art as they try to figure out the unusual material with its unique texture and feel. My work is featured in design, eco and fashion online magazines and blogs in USA, France, UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Turkey, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, China and other countries.

Group Exhibitions / Fashion Shows:

2012-2018 Hidden Heroes. The Genius of Everyday Things Vitra Design Museum, Germany + " la Caixa " Foundation, Spain Traveling Exhibition, Various Cities, Spain
2013 6x13 Indianapolis Museum of Art Representing Design Art Society, IMA
2012 Project IMA: IN:spired Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
2012 WOW, World of Wearable Art Wearable Art &; Classic Cars Museum, Nelson, New Zealand
2011 Seventh Annual Small Works Show 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011 SHOP: Like you Mean It Underline Gallery, Meatpacking District, New York, NY
2011 WOW, World of Wearable Art Wellington, New Zealand
2011 Wear is Art Dam Stuhltrager, Berlin, Germany
2010 Sixth Annual Small Works Show 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010 FNO: Fashion Night Out, NY Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Celebrate Design, 2010 Cooper Classic Cars, event space, New York, NY
2010 Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Project IMA: Fashion Unbound Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
2010 a.Dot, exhibit by CWA AJ Kane Gallery, Chicago IL
2009 DFT: Designers Find Time 255 Canal, New York, NY

Awards:

2013 6x13 Indianapolis Museum of Art Representing Design Art Society, IMA
2012 Bell, Top Award: Elizabeth and Stephen Taylor Fashion Design Award. Black rubber bands, industrial felt scraps Project IMA: IN:spired Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
2011 RB Dress III – Finalist Open Section Various colors and sizes rubber bands WOW, World of Wearable Art Wellington, New Zealand
2011 RB Dress II - Finalist Various colors and sizes rubber bands Wear is Art Dam Stuhltrager, Berlin, Germany
2010 RB Dress I - Finalist Various colors and sizes rubber bands In team with Iva Mileva Project IMA: Fashion Unbound Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

Publications:

2012 Educational Dossier Hidden Heroes. The Genius of Everyday Things Vitra Design Museum, Germany + " la Caixa " Foundation, Spain
2011 Love Earth: 100 Eco Ideas + 100 Eco Designs Book Published by Victionary, Hong Kong

In the Press /TV:

2013 NBC Today Show National TV, USA, January11, 2013
2013 The Sun UK, January 7, 2013
2013 NY1 TV Channel, New York, USA, January 8 2013
2013 NY Post, New York, USA, January 8, 2013
2013 Daily Mail UK, January 7, 2013
2011 BG Magazine, 063:Toys Ecuador, 12/2011
2011 EDNO Bulgaria. 4/2011
2011 Eigenhuis &; Interieur The Netherlands, 3/2011
2011 Rouge Bulgaria, 3/2011
2011 The Telegraph – Picture of the Day UK, January 6, 2011
2011 Chic Magazine Mexico, 2/2011
2011 את At Magazine Israel, 2/2011
2011 Form:The Making of Design Germany, Issue # 236 1/2011
2010 Homee Art and Design Turkey, 8/2010
2010 TimeOutNY, Editors Obsessions New York, 2/2010

Gallery Portfolio:

Silvia Vassileva, Dreamscapes
Acrylic

Artist's statement:

My paintings are an expression of my "joie de vivre," or "joy of life." The free and bold style reflects my personality and energy. My goal is to make an emotional connection with the viewers and to take them through the whole process—from the reality through its transformation in my mind, through the expression of my own feelings, to the new reality.
When I paint I enjoy the feeling of absolute freedom and abandon which does not exist in the reality outside of the canvas. To me fine art is about feeling, about senses, about our souls and sensitivity. After I took my first art class at the age of twelve in my native Bulgaria I knew where my destiny would lead and I never wavered. There was no doubt in my mind about what I wanted to do. It felt like a curtain was lifted and from that moment I could see shapes, shades, and colors as I had never seen them before. I love the contrast, sudden changes of color, unusual color palettes; everything that makes a painting ALIVE.

Bio:

Silvia Vassileva was fascinated by fine art since early childhood in her native Bulgaria. Her natural passion for painting was guided through 14 years of classical training which she applies in her California studio to create exciting, on-trend artwork. Silvia started her career in Europe participating in several art shows, later she lived in Japan for 6 years where she continued to pursue her art. After moving to the US in 1996 and working full time as an artist she relentlessly expresses her love for color and composition. Silvia describes her style as very free and bold. She makes her paintings come alive by using contrast and unusual color palettes. Her original art work and millions of prints, distributed all over the world, made her one of the most popular contemporary artists in the decorative market.

Education:

BA — Plovdiv School of Fine Arts, Plovdiv, Bulgaria MFA — Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria

Sellected Collections:

Oprah Winfrey - show set
Lady Gaga - private collection
George Clooney - The Ides of March movie set
Jessica Alba - The Eye movie set
Jay Leno - show set
Stanley Steamer TV commercial
HGTV House Hunting and House Hunting International
StemImmune Inc - La Jolla, CA
Medivas Pharmaceutical - San Diego, CA
Medinox Pharmaceutical - San Diego, CA
Scripps Research Institute - La Jolla, CA
Scripps Hospital - La Jolla, CA
Scripps Oceanography - La Jolla, CA
Pomerado Hospital - Escondido, CA
Kaiser Permanente Hospital - San Diego, CA
Village Square Dental - Encinitas, CA
Doubletree Hotel - San Diego, CA;
Doubletree Hotel -Charlotte, NC
Lomas Santa Fe Country Club - Solana Beach, CA
Best Western Hotel - Carlsbad, CA
Flamingo Hotel - Las Vegas, NE
Sahara Hotel - Las Vegas, NE
Omni Hotel - San Diego, CA
Hilton - Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel
La Costa Resort and Spa - La Costa, CA
Oceanside Beach Café - Oceanside, CA
La Bella Pizza Restaurant - Chula Vista, CA
Simon&Schuster Publishing - NY, NY
KIA Corporate Office - Seoul, South Korea
Misawa Architects - Takatsuki-shi, Japan
Bulgarian Embassy - Tokyo, Japan
Royal Ballet School - Sendai, Japan
Bueno Restaurant - Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Diamond Fashion House -Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Trinity Manor Senior Living - San Diego, CA
Parkcrest Senior Living -San Diego, CA
Hyatt Regency Hotel - Greenville, SC
Bradley Park Hotel - Palm Beach, FL
Sheraton Waikiki Hotel - Honolulu, HI
Mas di Luna Bed&Breakfast - Arles-Sur-Tech, France
Honda Dealership - Vancouver, WA
Marriott Hotel - Seattle, WA
RIKEN Research Institute - Wako-shi, Japan
BBR Inc. Corporate Office - Sofia, Bulgaria
Laural Home - NJ
The West Inn - Portland, OR
Wild Apple Graphics - corporate office, Woodstock, VT
Pine Tree Golf Club - Boynton Beach, FL
Greene Music School - San Diego, CA
Casa Blanca Sober Living - Vista, CA
Nissan Dealership - Riverside, CA
Lakind Fine Arts - Santa FE, NM
Cleere Law Offices -Tucson, AZ
JAG Art - San Diego, CA
Wilkinson & Finkbeiner Law Offices -San Diego, CA
Keller Williams Law Offices -San Diego, CA
Mesa Dental - San Diego, CA
La Jolla Village Family Group - San Diego, CA
Farmers Insurance - Oceanside, CA
Royal Dance Academy - San Diego, CA
Lozen Youth Cente - Sofia, Bulgaria
Borovets Hotel - Borovetz, Bulgaria
Thornton Winery - Temecula, CA
Burger Queen Restaurant - Ketchikan, AK
Boeing CO, San Diego, CA
UCSD Cancer Center - San Diego, CA
Elixir Café - Escondido, CA
Greek Islands Restaurant - Palm Springs, CA
San Diego Court House - San Diego, CA

Exhibitions:

2016: SURTEX – NY
2016: Art Walk San Diego
2016: Las Vegas Art and Framing Expo
2015: San Diego Art Institute
2015: SURTEX – NY
2015: Oceanside Center of Arts
2014: Las Vegas Art and Framing Expo
2014: Art Walk San Diego
2014: Atlanta Décor Expo
2014: Boerth's Gallery – Fargo, ND
2013: High Point Art and Furniture Market
2012: Maison Objet – Paris, France
2012: Kolev Gallery – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2013: Art Walk San Diego
2013: SURTEX – NY
2013: SDAI Jurried Art Exhibition
2011: Trondheim Gallery – Trondheim, Norway
2011: Omni Lobby – San Diego, CA
2011: Thunderbird Artists – Carefree, AZ
2010: Lakind Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2009: Private Showing – country club, Albuquerque, NM
2009: Art-A-fair – Laguna Beach, CA
2008: Art-A-fair – Laguna Beach, CA
2008: Affair in the Garden – Beverly Hills, CA

2007: Las Vegas Art and Licensing
2006: SURTEX – NY
2005: San Diego Art Institute
2004: Carmel Del Mar – fundraising – San Diego, CA
2003: NY Art Expo
2003: Galeria JAN, La Jolla, CA
2003: East-West Art and Framing – La Costa, CA
2002: Atlanta Décor Expo
2002: Galeria JAN, La Jolla, CA
2001: Kolev Gallery – Sofia, Bulgaria
2000: Phoenix Art Group – Phoenix AZ
1996: Eki-no-mae Gallery – Sendai, Japan
1994: Akasaka Gallery – Saitama, Japan
1991: Misawa Homu – Takatsuki-shi, Japan
1988: Academy of Fine Arts Gallery – Sofia, Bulgaria
1985: Lozen Gallery – Lozen Bulgaria
1985: Student Plain Air Exhibition – Sozopol, Bulgaria
1984: Plovdiv Center of Youth – Plovdiv Bulgaria

Gallery Portfolios:

Scott Swezy, New Work
Stott Swezy’s new pastel landscapes, abstract acrylics, and monotypes.

Scott Swezy, Abstract
This summer, New Mexico landscape artist Scott Swezy will be exhibiting a new body of abstract paintings and monotypes at Catenary Art Gallery. Known for his vivid southwestern landscapes, Scott Swezy also has a passion for the abstract. His influences can be traced back to his formative years in New York where at a young age he was exposed to early pioneers in the field, including Motherwell, Kline, Rothko and Pollack. Please join us for an opening event on August 12th when the artist will be at the gallery demonstrating his monotype process.

Scott Swezy, Burning Sky Mesas
Scott Swezy presents a collection of Southwest landscapes done in the traditional medium of pastel but in a very contemporary style. Using new techniques of applying and coating the pastel pigments, the artist creates stunning work that reflects the rich, brilliant colors of the desert southwest. The landscapes in this collection are stylized, minimal bursts of color, with some of the paintings venturing into the pure abstract. After a decade exploring abstraction, Scott returns to the images that inspired him when first arriving in New Mexico almost four decades ago. Scott creates his own grounds onto which the soft-pastel is applied. It is comprised of a black gesso that has sand particles suspended into it. This creates a wonderful surface which can accept multiple layers of pigment. A new technique is also being explored by Mr.Swezy. He has discovered that a specific brand of soft pastel can be "hand-rubbed" into a material known as gatorboard. This is an acid-free, very ridged version of foam core, with a hard paper surface. By rubbing pastel pigment directly into this surface, the material "soaks" into the board. "It's almost acting like a dye", says the artist, "the result is a softness and richness I've never achieved with pastel before". Also, unlike traditional pastels, these new pieces can be sealed and displayed without glass. Finally in the gallery are a beautiful series of small studies done using oil-stick. These are basically "crayons" made out of oil paint. It is a way for the artist to creating a "painting" while using drawing technique. These pieces are also done on a black ground and are beautifully framed, also without glass.

Scott Swezy, 2015 Passport to the Arts, Canyon Road, Santa Fe
Catenary artist Scott Swezy creating his pastel painting during the 2015 Passport to the Arts, Canyon Road, Santa Fe.

Bio:

Scott Swezy came to New Mexico in 1974 to study art at the University of New Mexico. Having grown up on the east coast, the contrast could not be more striking when confronted with the open spaces of the desert, the majesty of the mountains and the spectacular sunsets. His work was instantly influenced by this landscape and after school he travelled extensively throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Utah sketching and painting along the way.

In 1988 Scott opened the Scott Swezy Fine Art printmaking studio where he taught privately and created colorful monotypes and screenprints. The following decade found him on a new journey, into the world of abstraction. He began exploring new materials, acrylic over large textured canvases, often incorporating found objects into these large­scale works. During this time he began traveling the country exhibiting in some of the most prestigious art fairs in the United States, including Cherry Creek (Denver), St. Louis Artfair, Coconut Grove (Miami), Sausalito Art Festival, and many more. At many of these shows Scott was selected to create the events' limited edition poster.

Recently Scott has begun working with some select galleries, and has again returned to the landscape which was the source of his inspiration on his initial journey west. These new works are done using soft pastel, a medium perfect for reflecting the rich, brilliant colors of the desert southwest. Working on heavy paper or board he applies a special "sanded" paint which creates a rough surface on which to draw.

Gallery Portfolio:

Vassia Alaykova, Life Carnival
Watercolor paintings infused with spirituality and meditative lyricism. The exhibit showcases Vassia Alaykova's older work inspired by Eastern European folklore, as well as her newest collection which reflects her spiritual journey through the complex world of Hindu deities and the Buddha.

Vassia Alaykova, Poems of Divine Color
Watercolor paintings infused with spirituality and meditative lyricism. The exhibit showcases Vassia Alaykova's older work inspired by Eastern European folklore, as well as her newest collection which reflects her spiritual journey through the complex world of Hindu deities and the Buddha.

Artist's Statement:

I try to find a correlation between the present day and history, between reality and imagination, simplicity and complexity, order and chaos, science and art. On the canvas inside of the story, geometric shapes dance with organic ones creating a chaotic harmony. Simplicity turns complex on the other hand complexity morphs into an infinite simplicity thus reaching an ultimate sophistication. Creativity is the process of discovering and connecting to the dark side of one’s spirit, where there is a constant struggle to find the light hidden behind the idea of life. Life as a metaphor for happiness. One can only express the complexity and deepness of human emotions and feelings through color, that’s why I use a lot of it. Color is like music, like poetry, it get’s into your soul, washing away the monotony of every day life.

Bio:

Vassia who currently resides and works in Boston, MA is an illustrious artist. Her work has been displayed in numerous galleries and is in the property of private collectors around the World. Her first exhibition was held in Berkeley, CA when she was only 14 years old. She Graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a Communication Arts degree and School of the Museum of Fine with BFA.

Her interest in the Arts started when she was 10. After unsuccessful attempt to get into the National Ballet School in her native country Bulgaria, she decided to pursue her passion in the arts flowing the Fine Art path. Vassia’s talent comes from her father, who is a prominent artist in Eastern Europe. Even though he never encouraged her to go into the arts, he was influential in her life as the one who introduced her to classical music, philosophy, poetry, fine, art, film, theater, dance. All this stored somewhere in Vassia’s mind, radiated through her work later throughout the years.

In 2012 Vassia started working on new series of paintings "Deities", inspired by yoga, spirituality and her travels to India, Indian traditional dance and dance/movement in general, fairytales, encounters with different people.

Gallery Portfolio:

Yanick Lapuh, Sculptural paintings
The internationally acclaimed artist Yanick Lapuh from Mont Saint Martin, France, now living in Boston, MA, presents sculptural paintings using wood cut-outs set at different angles on a wooden base; the relief becomes a canvas on which he paints.

Artist's statement:

I make sculptural paintings using wood cut-outs set at different angles on a wooden base; the relief becomes a canvas on which I paint. My work derives from a dynamic internal dialogue between opposing elements: geometric vs. organic, logical vs. emotional, abstract vs. recognizable forms; the ethereal/spiritual vs. concrete reality.

In my geometric works, I investigate 3-dimensionality, both real and illusory, in the visual interaction between the constructed relief and the design I paint on it. Subtle gradations of color are used to give the illusion of form and shape while the cutouts provide the reality of it.

The organic pieces, both wall-hanging and free-standing, incorporate imagery I've developed over time and reflect my interest in, and investigation of, a universal symbology, which I see as a means of communicating of what can not be put into words. I texture some of these paintings and sculptures to simulate a type of muted patina.

My most recent paintings extend my search for universal symbols and meaning into surrealism. What was once abstracted imagery is now embodied in cartoon-like forms that might spring from dreams or nightmares.

Bio:

Born in Mont Saint Martin, France, Lapuh moved to the USA after a short stint working with a stone cutter in Zurich, Switzerland. He began his art studies in sculpture at the Massachusetts College of Art.

While traveling overland from France to India and on to Australia, Lapuh's emphasis shifted to drawing and painting. Coming back to the United States he spent two years living in Florida. His first public show, featuring surrealistic figurative works on canvas, was in West Palm Beach.

After his return to Boston, Lapuh enrolled at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. His paintings became progressively more abstract; texture and form taking precedence over narration. Sculpture reappeared in his work as he began to build out his canvases, and he began to focus on the contrast between flat and 3-dimensional forms and between the real and the illusory.

Around this time, Lapuh developed a series on prison. The idea of being imprisoned within a cube gave birth to the 'corner', the point at which walls meet. Highly textured, geometric canvases and muted colors were characteristic. Now even more abstract in its form, the 'corner' is still a prevalent image in his work.

Lapuh received his Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1989, completing the Fifth Year Program there in 1990. After his first public showings in Boston, Lapuh began to move away from formal, almost rigid forms, to more organic and emotionally charged shaped-paintings. He moved the sculptural element to the edges of the canvas and experimented with vivid colors on the flat surface in between. Brilliant red, yellow, orange and blue were new to his work.

Solo Exhibitions:

2011 - Yanick Lapuh: Your Ladder is on Fire, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
2010 - Sculptural Paintings, Newton Free Library, Newton, MA
2008 - Yanick Lapuh, Hynes Convention Center, Boston
2007 - Abstract Paintings, French Library \& Cultural Center, Boston
2005 - New Work, Boston Center for the Arts
1996 - Illusions, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston
1992 - New Work, Alpha Gallery, Boston
1991 - Recent Work, Alpha Gallery, Boston

Selected Group Shows:

2011 - Massachusetts Cultural Council 2010 Award Recipients in Painting & Drawing, Tufts University Art Gallery, Somerville, MA
2011 - Massachusetts Artists, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
2010 - Eye Spy, Playing with Perception, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
2010 - South Asia Initiative at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2010 - Painted Visions: Artist Fellows of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, S. Yarmouth, MA
2009 - Northeast Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
2009 - Off the Wall, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA
2009 - Edge, ArtSpace Gallery, Maynard, MA
2008 - Art of the North East, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
2008 - Members' Juried Show, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
2007 - 14th Juried Show, Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA
2008 - Massachusetts Artists, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
2006 - Summer Street Solstice, Boston Convention Center
2002 - Abstraction, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston
2000 - Expressions, Federal Reserve Bank, Boston
1999 - Sleeping Beauty, New England School of Art \& Design, Boston
1994 - Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston
1993 - Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston
1992 - Alpha Gallery, Boston
1992 - Chicago International Art Exposition
1992 - The Art Show, New York City
1992 - Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston
1991 - Alpha Gallery, Boston
1991 - Bank of Boston, Boston
1990 - New Talent Show, Alpha Gallery, Boston

Awards:

2010 - Painting Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council
2008 - 2nd place, Members' Juried Show, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
2007 - 1st place, 14th Juried Show, Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA

Gallery Portfolios:

OverWrite
The photography portfolio reimagines familiar storylines staged in contemporary settings. As the future is always an unknowable moment away, we recycle old plots and ideas in an effort to make sense of our present. The pictures in this portfolio meditate on the ways technology has altered our lives, relationships and ultimately – our humanity. As ever, we feel compelled to organize our world into narratives, but these narratives have become increasingly fragmented, superficial, repackaged, re-twitted. We pass the fleeting moments of our existence obsessively staring into rectangles of constant distraction. Surrounded or rather accompanied by screens, we feel narcissistically glued to our illuminated or mirrored selves. Is human behavior modeling computers through a kind of technological "natural" selection? And what traits survive that selection – the better, noble ones, or the ugly, petty ones? Do computers slowly but surely turn into what we want to see in them -- into digitally mirrored images of us? In some of the photographs, the main source of light is the glowing screen of the device, as well as the available natural light. In others, the screens are dark spaces absorbing their users into the blackness of foreign narratives.

Sketches in Charcoal
Rumi Vesselinova's new photography exhibition examines the transformation of the Southwest landscape under the conditions of drought and related natural disasters. Taken during Las Conchas fire and in the following four years, the photographs trace the altered landscape of fire devastation and its profound effect on the visual aesthetics of the region. Sketches in Charcoal depicts the devastated land of charred forest as captured after the fire (2012, 2014, 2015). In different seasons and locations, the photographs trace the black path of the fire along the mountains. The landscape has now turned into sketches of carbon black and grey. The pinon and aspen trees stand branchless and stark as tombstones of their former selves. Pictured in a minimal, almost abstract style, the dead trees in the photographs resemble brush strokes or charcoal crosshatching and provoke somber reflection, but also appreciation of nature even at its darkest. This is an altered landscape of mass extinction of greenery and yet there is beauty to be found in it.

Sketches in Fire
Sketches in Fire pictures the intense skies and heavy smoke over Santa Fe during the fire (2011). Santa Fe was not in dangerous proximity to the fire but its presence was undeniably felt "in the air". The sky was different; the sun, the moon and the horizon were saturated with the portentous colors of blazing inferno.

The Southwest – An Endless Now
Large-scale landscape photography of the Southwest, in all its drama and splendor.

Ever After
The afterlife of a moment as reflected in a photographic body of work that spans years and genres. Selected portraits, landscapes, abstractions, and still lifes created 2005 to present.

Artist's statement:

A picture is worth a thousand words, goes the adage. A great photograph is worth 17 syllables. It is strong, serene and clear like a haiku. It feels like a recollection of a pure visual emotion that is new and recognized at the same time. I have taken pictures around the world, but the places closest to my heart have always been the American Southwest and my native Bulgaria. Different and distant as they are, they both speak to me in a profound, visceral voice. They both are beautiful in their own ways, but photographing them is not about beauty, composition or technical precision. It is about a level of closeness that does not allow for the separation of fascination and existential pain. Some pictures hopefully convey this most complex emotion, and viewers recognize it aesthetically.

I have degrees in Photography, Philology, English & Bulgarian Language and Literature. My photography work has been shown at various art venues and galleries in the USA and Bulgaria. Currently, I work and live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Rumi Vesselinova is exclusively represented by Catenary Art Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.

Gallery Portfolio:

Larisa Ilieva, Personal Winds
Larisa Ilieva mixes acrylic, soft pastel, pen-china ink, and collage to create hybrid narratives of intricate floral interlace with rich color palette. As a Paris-based artist, Larisa has had numerous exhibitions in Europe; Personal Winds is her first show in Santa Fe.

Artist's statement:

I begin my work like a nonsensical game of chaotic patterns that appear by chance on the surface of the canvas. Then step by step, day after day, new patterns appear, like the events of my life appear over the past. Some have real forms, others are fluid and unstable. The colors are either in vivid contrast or in subtle flux. Things develop like they do in life -- clear and strong in the foreground, or dissipating and disappearing in the ever-fading haze of distant memory.

Solo Exhibitions:

2014 - Gallery Arte Viva, Paris, France
2014 - Dada Project Studio, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - 1+1=1 Public instalation, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
2013 - Dada cultural Bar, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - Gallery Art Center Stokite, Bulgaria
2012 - "Larisa in Wonderland" , Fondation Velmar, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, USA
2011 - Gallery Edition88, Luxembourg
2010 - Gallery Art Center Stokite, Bulgaria
2009 - Gallery Art Center Stokite, Bulgaria
2009 - Gallery Varosha, Lovech, Bulgaria
2009 - Gallery Municipal Sevlievo, Bulgaria
2008 - Gallery Art Center Stokite, Bulgaria
2007 - Gallery Greencat, Sofia, Bulgaria
2004 - Gallery Vidima, Sevlievo, Bulgaria
2002 - Gallery Nessy, Bourgass, Bulgaria
1999 - Gallery M, Russe, Bulgaria
1998 - Gallery Ehterna, Varna, Bulgaria
1997 - Gallery Nessy, Burgass, Bulgaria
1997 - Gallery Cyrakov, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria

Group Exhibitions:

2014 - M-art gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2013 - "Spring 2013", exhibition hall "Rafael Mihcailov", Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
2012 - Project "Idea for home", Exhibition "Love", Gallery "Raiko Alexiev", Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - Galerie Arte Viva, Paris, France
2012 - Allianz Bulgaria 2012, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - "Spring 2012", exhibition hall "Rafael Mihcailov", Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
2009 - International Pastel Exhibiton in Taiwan
2003 - 2008 Salon International de Pastel, Normandie, France
2004 - International Pastel Exhibition, New York, USA
2003 - Europastel, St. Petersburg, Russia
2002 - Europastello, Italy

Gallery Portfolio:

George Alaykov, Just Space
This collection of oil paintings by renowned artist George Alaykov invites the viewer to dive into deep and complex interior spaces that blend the tangible with the abstract. The artist creates variations of illusionary perspective and three-dimensionality using color and line in intricate compositions. George Alaykov is an immensely prolific and sophisticated artist whose work has always pushed the boundaries of art expression. Many of his painting are in possession of art collectors around the world, as well as in the permanent collections of art museums.

Bio:

George Alaykov was born on July 6, 1950 in a small village near the old town of Kiustendyl in southwestern region of Bulgaria. Kiustendyl is a place rich in well-preserved Thracian artifacts, Roman era ruins and stone mosaics, and Byzantine style frescos. Having spent the first 13 years of his life in Kiustendyl, Alaykov was deeply influenced by these classical artistic traditions to develop his love for visual arts. Even as a 9-year old, his talent did not go unnoticed; his free-hand illustrations were so exact that he was often accused of copying them using transfer paper.

In 1964 after a difficult nation-wide competition Alaykov was accepted into a special school for the visual arts in Sofia, the Capitol of Bulgaria. In his four years of study he strived hard to develop his own artistic language through classical painting, drawing, sculpture and art history.

Later he began his MFA at the prestigious Bulgarian Academy of the Arts in Sofia. But this is where Alaykov encountered his first struggles towards artistic freedom. His tendency to take on contemporary western themes in his work and break from classical conventions did not go well with a dry academic institution that strictly followed the dogmatic rules of so called " socialist realism. " With most of the arts faculty being members of the communist party (which was the only way to secure professorship), the school atmosphere was politically repressed and creativity highly controlled and censored in many ways.

"I didn’t learn anything more (at the Academy) then I did in the previous school. I think I lost five important years of my life struggling to express myself freely".

Alaykov was often on the verge of dismissal from the Academy for not following its dry aesthetic standards; he even refused his diploma for 16 years until his eventual departure to America. Prior to that, traveling abroad was almost impossible; the country was like a big prison with only a few individuals closely related to the Totalitarian regime allowed to travel.

Alaykov had left behind all of his artwork at a small gallery in Munich, Germany. Working many jobs to survive and support his family didn’t leave him much time to focus on his artwork. Even so he managed to create up a small collection of paintings and in 1992 he did his first solo show at the Harriet Giorgi gallery in Berkeley, California. Over the following two to three years until he moved to Massachusetts he had several solo shows and group exhibitions in California as well at galleries abroad. Alaykov finally moved with his family to Boston with a small role of canvasses struggling to sustain his artistic career.

Despite his struggles over the years, Alaykov has continued to develop a rich body of authentic artwork drawing from his Eastern European roots and gradual integration to the West; his work for long been underexposed in the contemporary art world and appreciated only by a small group of collectors, friends and artists. Having painted over one thousand oil paintings on canvas over the past two decades, Alaykov believes that it is finally time to share this body of original, unseen work in the public sphere.

Gallery Portfolio:

Nikolay Sardamov, Bi-Re-Cycle
Contemporary jewelry.

Public Collections:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Solo exhibitions:

2013 - "BRAND NEW", Testa Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - "Constructions", Isabella Hund Gallery, Munich, Germany
2013 - "Intersections", Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow, UK
2012 - "Intersections", Barbara Weinberger Gallery, Nurnberg, Germany
2012 - "OPUS", with Tsvetelina Alexieva, Reverso Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2012 - "Intersections", V & V Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2012 - "3 from Sofia", with Tsvetelina Alexieva and Dimitar Delchev, Galeriehaus Grosche, Castrop - Rauxel, Germany
2012 - "Intersections", Testa Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - "Selected works", Altronics Light & Suspacious, architectural lighting studio, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 - "3x2=Schmuck" with Tsvetelina Alexieva and Dimitar Delchev, Mangold Gallery, Leipzig, Germany
2010 - "Continuum", Metalab Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2010 - "Be-Re-Cycle", V &V Gallery, , Vienna, Austria
2009 - "The secret of the garden", Testa Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2007 - "New work", Jungbluth Gallery, Luxemburg
2007 - "Taste", with Tsvetelina Alexieva and Dimitar Delchev, Galeriehaus Grosche, Castrop - Rauxel, Germany
2006 - "Nostalgia", with Tsvetelina Alexieva and Liliana Ploskova, V & V Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2004 - "All Roads Lead to… Glasgow", Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow, UK
2003 - "Wee treasures", V & V Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2001 - "Sweet Nothingness", V & V Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2001 - "High Coutur ", Bluecoat Display Center, Liverpool, UK

Group exhibitions:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA.

Awards:

2000 - Grand Prix in New Technologies Competition, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia, Bulgaria

Exhibitions:

Gallery Portfolio:

Nicolai Panayotov, Sans Frontiéres

The paintings in this collection are part of a new wave in my work since 2013. The narrative - surrealistic approach in the content is still present, but the style of painting becomes flatter and cleaner, with delineated black contours. I create my work quickly, following the zigzag of subconsciously appearing images and ideas. I return to my vision of "wall space" from the time when I created large scale mosaics in communist Bulgaria, but now that vision is reflected through the language of street art. In my work, I look back at my life and wonder if there is a meaning of the meaninglessness of it all. The emptiness and whiteness start to prevail and dominate the narrative. The paintings are large scale, on loose canvas without stretcher bars – a display style preferred by many artists of my generation (Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Robert Combas). The purpose is to liberate the art from the museum-like, static, permanent framing. In France, my style has been compared to the popular figuration libre, or free figuration. The series Local Conic Diaries was conceived as a playful reinvention of the cone spitwad games I used to play on the streets and backyards of my native Sofia. To me the shape is also reminiscent of the teepees of native people in North America. Since 2002 I have created scores of conic paintings of various dimensions and mediums. I have also designed several opera stage sets, notably for Richard Wagner’s epic operas Der Ring des Nibelungen. The mythical castle of Wotan, Valhalla, is built out of fiberglass cones with the monumental size of 25 feet. The horses for the Valkyrie are also cone shaped, much like missiles.

Bio:

Nicolai Panayotov lives and works in Bulgaria and France. His art is treasured by collectors and institutions around the world. Credit Swiss in Luxembourg owns 35 of Nicolai Panayotov’s paintings. His work is part of the collections of ING bank, Sofia, Bulgaria; Commerzbank, Leipzig, Germany; PNP-Parisbas, Paris, France; UBS, London, UK; National Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria; and Municipal Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Group exhibitions:

1983-90 Union of Bulgarian Artists Exhibition Gallery "Shipka", Sofia, Bulgaria
1989, 1990 Art Basel, Switzerland
1994 Budapest Art Fair, Hungary
1995 Contemporary Art Fair, Strasbourg, France
2013 World Bank Group, Sofia, Bulgaria

Solo exhibitions (selected):

1982 The House of Wittgenstein, Vienna, Austria
1985 357 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1990 Union of Bulgarian Artists Exhibition Gallery "Shipka", Sofia, Bulgaria
1991 Gallery Jan Six, Paris, France
1992 Gallery Richard Treger, Paris, France
1992 Gallery 88, Luxembourg
1993 Provincemuseum, Leuven, Belgium
1994 Municipal Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1995 Diderot Publisher, New York, USA
1996 Gallery Rolf Ruckert, Paris, France
1997 Gallery Escalle, Bruxelles, Belgium
1998 France Telecom, New York, USA
2000 Intitute Française, Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Gallery Rayko Alexiev, Sofia, Bulgaria
2002 Commerzbank, Leipzig, Germany
2003 Gallery Irida, Sofia, Bulgaria
2004 BNP-Parisbas, Champs-Elyses, Paris, France
2004 Cibank Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2004 National Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2009 National Gallery of Foreign Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 Bulgarian Embassy, Washington, USA
2013 Wagner, the Kiss of the Dragon, Gallery Industrialna, Sofia, Bulgariaa
2013 Dissections, Gallery Yuzina, Sofia, Bulgaria
2014 M.Art Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2014 Bulgarian Cultural Center, Paris, France
2014 Gallery Arte Viva, Paris, France

Opera Stage Design-Sets and Costumes:

Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner, Sofia National Opera and Ballet
2010 Das Rheingold
2011 Die Walkure
2012 Siegfried
2013 Gotterdammerung