Snezhana Stoyanova
Snezh
I have been drawing for as long as I can remember.
I remember in kindergarten, there was this girl Maria in my group. She was very tall, as I was then/ now I am almost a minion/, and she painted very well, just like me. We both drew the best out of the whole group of kids. I didn’t know if anyone else noticed that, but it definitely made an impression on me. Maybe I was 4 or 5 years old at the time, when my heart stopped beating for the first time. I paid no attention to this at the time, for my whole being was numbed by what was before my eyes – Maria’s drawing of “Rain”. The incredible image of a woman-rain, that she had created, pierced through me and for the first time I felt a new feeling – envy. It quickly passed, but to this day I recognize the good artistic image and strive for it.
I was born in Sofia- Bulgaria, Europe on March 3, 1966- Pisces zodiac sign. That is to say I am sensitive, intuitive, artistic, creative, emphatic, dreamer, following only my own rhythm, independent, free- spirited, intelligent, introverted, versatile- I.e.-an Artist. I was just born that way!
There is one more incident from my childhood, which is relevant to my career. When we were finishing 4th grade, our teacher asked all of us the question: what do I want to be when I grow up? On a piece of paper, my answer, without thinking, was- an artist. We put the sheet in a bottle and buried it next to a tree. The idea was, when we turn 40, we would get together and see who had fulfilled their dream. We never did it. But a few days after we did it, my mom told me that the teacher called and told her not to encourage me to become an artist, because I was very intelligent and should become an engineer or a doctor. Fortunately, my parents were wonderful people and never tried to pressure me against my wishes.
I hope the sense of humor you felt is not too incompatible with the autobiographical purpose of this text.
And…
In 1980 I was admitted to the National Art School of Fine Arts “ Ilia Petrov” in Sofia. I felt really happy, just in my place. I liked the school, the teachers, my classmates. I could talk a lot about my years in art school, because that is the time that shaped me the most as an artist and the person I am now. I owe a lot to certain people and I am very grateful to them. I graduated from high school in 1985.
After that I studied at the National Art Academy of Arts “Nikolay Pavlovich” in Sofia, specialty “Textile” and graduated in 1993.
Here are some facts:
Active participation in exhibitions in the country and abroad since 1989 .
Member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists since 1999.
Participation in joint art exhibitions:
1989 – Kiev – paintings, drawings
1992 – Spring Salon – Sofia
1993 - Spring Salon – Sofia
1993 – Fair in Belgrade – textile and design
1994 - Spring Salon – Sofia
1995 - Spring Salon – Sofia, Autumn Salon - Sofia
1996 - Spring Salon – Sofia, Autumn Salon - Sofia
1997 - Spring Salon – Sofia
1998 - Spring Salon – Sofia, Autumn Salon - Sofia
1999 - Exhibition for admission to the Union of Bulgarian Artists - Sofia
2000 - Spring Salon – Sofia
2009 - Spring Salon – Sofia
2010 - Spring Salon – Sofia
2011 - Exhibition City DE-Z-AR - Sofia, Union of Bulgarian Artists - Sofia
2013 - Seventh National Exhibition "Art Collage" - Plovdiv
2021 - Virtual exhibition "Monumetal" curated by Sergio Gomez - Chicago. Exhibition runs from December 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022
2022 - 2022 - Virtual exhibition PRETTYPERV 2022 - M.A.D.S. Gallery, Barcelona and the Canary Islands
2022 - R/EVOLUTION exhibition - Arteom Gallery https://www.arteomgallery.com/artists
2023 - Salon International d'Art Contemporain - art3f PARIS - 27- 29 Janvier 2023
Solo exhibition:
1992 – collection of copyrighted fashion fabrics and knitted clothing – Artist’s Home – Vratza
1993 – Art Textile Exhibition – sculptures and panels – Gallery “Any Co” – Sofia
1999 – exhibition – paintings, drawings and textile – “Gallery 11 Brothers Kadinovi” – Sofia
2011 – Exhibition of photo collage “Touch” – Gallery „Sofia-press” – Sofia
2012 – Exhibition textile photo collages “Cross-imagery” („Krastoobraznitsi”) – Cite Internationale des Arts – Paris
2012 – Exhibition textile photo collages „Diffusion” – Hotel Festa Chamkoria – Borovets resort
Awards from competitions:
Cite Internationale des Arts - Paris - 2011
Where else can you see Snezhana Stoyanova's artworks
https://www.artsy.net/partner/monat-gallery/artists/snezhana-stoyanova
https://www.artsper.com/us/contemporary-artists/bulgaria/114240/snezhana-stoyanova
https://www.saatchiart.com/snezh
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My works are owned by private collectors in many countries and by the Bulgarian Artists’ Union.
I work in the fields of textiles, collage, painting, fashion, advertising, computer graphics, mural, the game industry /2007-2011 - GAMELOFT and UBISOFT/ and in the fields of teaching drawing and fine arts.
In 1993 I started a private school of fine arts, which is now one of the leading private schools in Bulgaira /Studio S – www.studios-edu.com / and now there is not only drawing, but many other educational disciplines . From 1912 to 2020 I devoted my activities to expanding the school, creating new affiliates and not much time was left for my own art.
But things kept going on in my head. My sketchbooks, and notebooks from those years are full of ideas, concepts for paintings, installations, sculptures , projects , etc. Already so much have accumulated, that had to come out of my notebooks and by 2021 I could no longer resist and devoted myself to creativity again.
Now I paint every day and I can't stop.
STATEMENT OF THE ARTIST
I have been painting ever since I remember myself. I was happier with my creative work prior to starting to ask myself the question: Why do I do it? Each attempt at a rational reply to irrational desires is always a hardship. And yet, the passion itself in painting suggests me that creative work saves me from the mechanized spiritlessness; it provides me with possibility to create my own worlds and feel authentic.
I feel painting as the most complete opportunity to have polemical dialogues with myself, to unite time and space in colors and figures; to recreate my dreams with eyes open; especially in the sleepless moments of dawn. I try to analyze and summarize emotions, to look beyond the apparent.
The means of expression, which can be said to creep into almost all my work are passing, intertwining between worlds, dematerializing the material, creating a rhythm in chaos, and sometimes, depending on the mood, chaos in the order.
I feel that in my paintings I seem to find the most accurate place of man, torn between his primary nature and the imposed social conventions. Art helps me to intuitively explore the human connections between words and thoughts, and to distinguish the consequences of actions. I am happy to be able to recreate in tones and lines the existential marks of existence - those "marks" which we leave behind in space and time.
I am of the opinion that in my photo collages, intertwined as fabric /that is why I consider them as textile works/, I show the complex relationships between man and his being. My works are completely subject to the idea of multi-layered transition through the complex spectrum of moods, emotions and experiences, "intertwined" in all-embracing compositions.
The conviction that the path to a complex universe, expressed through metaphysical expression, leads to the discovery of light and hope, despite the often dark background nuances of being, stimulates me. By combining space and worlds, I want to achieve a metaphorical passage through the gates of time. In my works, the presence of nature and man is a whole which carries an optimistic charge, despite the existential doubts that permeate us often and deeply. The actions and gestures in my works are symbolic, subject to the emotional dialogue broadcast, I hope, by my works. Through the imaginary absolute in the approach and expression I put next to each other abstract in nature as impact and perception modules and details which build up the essence of each of my works.
The very process of creating and building up the fabric of the works carries my specific handwriting, which in a lot of cases is captive to textiles and the textile way of thinking.
This approach creeps even in my digital works. And digital painting is a complete happiness for me. It does not depend on place, space, time, materials. I can paint anywhere, anytime, and I do it.
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