ArtfromBulgaria.com
I. Zelev
Resume/Biography
Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1961.
1987 Graduated from "St Cyril & Metodius University",V.T.
Since 1988 he has had many exhibitions, most of them in Germany.
His paintings can be seen in many galleries and collections in
Germany, Bulgaria, USA, Britain, Sweden, Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Greece, Russia, France, Belgium.
and other countries
Individual exhibitions:
1988 KDK Gallery,Gabrovo,Bulgaria
1989 127 Rakovsky Gallery,Sofia
1991 Art Gallery Dryanovo,Bulgaria
Wustner Art Gallery,Erlangen,Germany
1992 Galerie in der Prannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Museum Trajavna,Bulgaria
1993 ArtGallery 19-90,Sofia,Bulgaria
1994 Gallerie in der Prannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Dossev Art Gallery,Sofia,Bulgaria
Janet Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
1995 Gallerie in der Pranneerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Aruid Art Gallery,Rousse,Bulgaria
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
1996 Hirnickel Art Gallery Bad Kisssing,Germany
Cebit Hanover,Compaq firm stand,Germany
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
1997 Gallerie in derPrannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Kersten Art Gallery,Brussthal,Germany
Janet Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
1998 Dyakov Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
Europ's Art ,Astra Art Gallery,Geneva,Switzerland
Bulgarrsche Grafik Heute,Rathaus,Bruhl,Germany
1999 Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
Nina Amar Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
Gallerie in der Prannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Dyakov Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
2000 Hirnickel Art Gallery,Bad Kissing,Germany
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
2001 Bovyel Art Gallery,Plovdiv,Bulgaria
Gallerie in der Prannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Art Fair Frankfurt,Germany
2002 Kersten Art Gallery,Brunnthal,Germany
Museum Plovdiv,Bulgaria
2003 Galerie in der Prannerstrasse,Munich,Germany
Gallery AT Sofia,Bulgaria
Sheh Center Sofia,Bulgaria
I. Zelev is an artist whose work is firmly rooted in the traditional art of his native
Bulgaria. To achieve his aims he uses what could be best described as a symbolic language
at once familiar to everybody who sees his pictures. Even if it is one's first encounter with
them, one is immediately struck by the clarity of what is neither foreign nor strange
although his cultural background is alien to us. One enjoys being led into this imaginative
pictorial language reminiscent of fairy tales. Zhelev's pictures are separated into
countless geometric colourfields filled with life through the finest of minute drawings and
symbols. He creates his cheerfully decorative designs, a whole world of colours and
expressive structures from an amazing world of paints that remind one of the textile
weavers in Bulgaria.
If relatively closely related shades are placed next to each other, the result is softly
harmonious, while the competition of strongly contrasting colours side by side results in
a dialogue full of tension, A composition in, let's say, slightly different shades of blue
presents itself as a relaxed entity complete in itself a,surprising effect considering the
apparent mobility of the separated structure.
The naive and playful drawings appear here like creatures from a mystical world. On the
other hand, a similarly arranged picture in brilliant red, contrasted by a tense yellow and
then calmed down by a shade of blue that follows, radiates an eruptive strength in which
the lovingly placed symbols appear to witness an uncontrollable joie de vivre.
In Zelev's own words: "The most important aim of my work is the multiplication of the
fundamental original idea. I would not like to have the secret of my pictures to be
discovered at a glance, I believe the process of "looking into" the message of the pictures
to be the main road that leads to the analytical understanding of art. Every time you read,
you decipher an individual pictorial component, you must find something new, something
as yet undiscovered. My aim can be grasped according to the viewer's personal
understanding and frame of mind at any given moment."
The key to Zhelev's works is spiritual and should be sought through the channels of
emotion. His technique is traditional in the sense that he paints layer after layer and
needs long periods for the drying process. At times he can go up to fifteen or twenty
layers of paint before he is satisfied with the effect. As a result of this his pictures reach a
high degree of colour intensity and a brightness that appears to radiate straight from the
background of the painting.
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