1 When did your journey as an artist begin and what study have you done along the way?
I was born in an art family. My father and his mother are writers and poets. My mother is a painter, she did a lot of theater disign, costumes, murels too. The funny thing is that my mothers mother and my fathers father studied together in the art academy – sculpture. My father was a tipical poet, busy with him self, another famoust people and alcohol, so my mother was working in the theater and I was with her. I spend so many days and nights there and I loved it. She allways gave me „ work“ and I told her many times she dosen’t do her job enough good and I should show her how to paint better- well I was 5 years old and belive me I drew on some of her projects when she didn’t see me and of course she had problems repearing them in the last moment. I always wanted to be there with her and I learned how to create something from nothing. I was 9 years old when I sow for first time Uv Theater, created by my mother. It was like a dream land, a real fairytale coming true and all I wanted was to stay in this story and not to come back to the real world.
When I was at home I was painting on the walls of my room. My mother gave me freedome to do this with all of the materials I wanted to try on-evan chocolate. I painted on wood peaces too.
My second passion were home made parfumes so I spent many hours in cooking flowers.
I loved to be stared at people as well, to see how the light and the shadow are moving on their faces and I still do this.
I wanted to go to the fine art high school in Sofia but there were exams. I was 12 years old and took 6 months intensive private lessons to be ready for the 3 days exam. I passed the exams and was for 5 years in this fine art school. There we learned everything about fine art and had 30 hours different fine arts a week. The best of us went to short exchange in City of Bath Collage in Eingland which was a very nice and strange experience, because it was the first shock for me from the west european art. We were much too much traditional and not so far to understand art build mostly on concept.
After my diplom work in the high school I took special private classes for human drawing in an very old like Dürer or other old Masters stile. With the knowledge from this class I passed the exams in the Art Academy for fine arts in Sofia and studied there 1 year. I was in a printmaking class and the problem started when some of the proffesors were angry at me, becouse I had a big exhibition with my mother and grandmother in a famoust gallery and I took part in with my paintings. They said I am not aloud to do this and I can not be a painter and printmaker at the same time.“ To be a painter your brain sees spots and you are printmaker so you see everything as lines“ This was the most stupid thing I ever heard. So I decided to apply in the Art University in Vienna. A dream which I had before the Academy in Sofia. I evan came twice to Vienna to show my works, but I did not have the money to come for the exams.
In september 2003 I came to Vienna, applyed in the painting class. They took me for exams, but at the end took only 6 boys for the study. I was despred. They said my drawing are amazing, but my paintings too fantastic and I can stay as an extra student, have to work on my painting theems, to be more contemporary and may be next year they will take me as an regular student. It was a hard time, I was painting and drawing so much, but it was worthy- they took. Now I am working on my diplom work. A few years ago I found two new passions which will stay with me for ever- the body painting and the film history and filming.
2 How does your family play a part in your art?
They play a huge part. I not only learned a lot form them, the most importatn thing is I alway can talk with them and become absolutely pure opinion. My mother teached me to see, to belive, to create. My grand mother- a sculture showed me what it means to live for the art!
Her husband and my grandfather was a film maker. My father never teached me with a reason, he was just living his live, but this showed me what i don’t want to be and where is the border. Thank him i know how to mannage to be a dreamer, an artist and to know what the real world is about, but his poetry is my real father. He is the best poet I ever red so I am thankful being part of his creations and having part of himself in me.
His sister is a ballet choreographer and with her and their mother I have seen milions of hours modern and classic ballet peaces. They gave me the love of the moving body.
I mixed all of the art family directions and this makes me what I am.
3 How did you come into contact with bodypainting?
The first live body painting I saw was from Mike Shane in 2004. I loved it and it is strange, because we actualy get to know each other later on in Seeboden and we are friends now.
I had a profile in one online art gallery. They-Kunstszene and Birgit Mörtl did a competition for the life ball in Vienna and wanted a photo from a painted model as a wild cat or in a rokoko stile. I though why not, I am so good painter, already painted on everything, but not on a human. My best friend and room mate at that point, an amazing girl from New York was my first victim.
4 What do you look for in a bodypainting model?
I am searching for a nice enrgy in a model. You can alway change the face, the body, but the energy is allways there, we don’t see it, but we feel it. To paint on skin is so conected with touching and this is the reason why I have to feel comfortable to touch the person.
In general I prefer to paint on mail models, but not becaus I am heterosexual. The woman’s body is the beautifuler one, the one which is more explored. It has been treated as an object of desire, sexuality, art, addvertising, fashion, voyeurism- allthou we all are voyeurs- that is why we love films and books, because they are a window from someones world and we are enjoying to be stared at this life without to be disturbed. We all need the so called- Invisible storytelling. But I like art without a gender. I am creating androgyn art and a men’s body gives me the perfect chance for this. The painted womans brest and nipples are always conected with the mother simbol or sexuallity.
I have three parts in me, Bella as an artist, woman and person. Only one of those is really female. The person and the artist are just thinking, feeling the energy river around and creating process- so of course they like androgyn art. But they all are good buddys;)
If God dosen’t have a gender, why the art being a creation has to have one;)...?!
5 What are the differences between your bodypainting and your work on canvas?
The difference is very big. The paintings are in my owln style, which I am changing. At the moment the human figures are very hiperrealistik and everything around soft and moved.
My bodypainting stile is much more part of my old way of painting, which was more decorative with sharp lines in contrast colors. It is just a matter of time. I work on a canvas 1 month, someties 2 or 3 months.
One of the themes in my canvas paintings is the transformation of architecture and space. The reality that my eyes perceive. Tectonic dynamic - a rhythm in form. Flowing musical movement. Delicate tactility; melting borders: the opposite of the communist architecture.
The spaces I choose are sometimes known locations. I make them like a small world with its own balance and rules of form with continuous circling lines.
The human is searching, asking, staring, a little bit dreamy, consciously expecting, answering our questions, speechless communication with our thoughts.
My protagonists are people whom I know and have been impressed with. They are different, but in my paintings all of them represent a part of my character.
They know what they are searching for. They always do their best, they appreciate and enjoy the moment - the time which plays with us as we do with snowballs. The staring eye has so much to say.
Unexpected or exact, they find and reach their inner aim.
6 You will be taking part in an exhibition in China, how did they contact you and what will the exhibition be about?
The exhibition is presentation of contemporar austrian art. It is organized from a chiniese artist called Shan Hong. We know yeach other from Vienna and he invited me and another 7 kollegs of mine to presen our art. Every one will show 6 paintings and I will do body painting for the opening too. At the moment we are working on a small video to present us and the way we paint.
7 What developments would you like to see in the bodypainting world?
This is my main aim and I am already working on it. The goal is body painting to be a real part of the fine art world, gallerys, academys and art universitys. I did a body painting workshop a year ago in the art university. It was about body painting history, artists and ways of painting and different practical techniques.
The word it self comes from PAINTING and I want more painters to start working on body. I am planing to be a proffesor, so I will work on this for sure.
8 What has been your most satisfying experience as a bodypainting artist?
-The most amazing was the 1 place in the World Fluoro Award 2006.
- The 1 place in the Swissbodypainting day 2006 and the second place this year was great too. I loved the themes and had a lot of fun working on them.
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