“When I was young, I happened to be sad; I dreamed of a magic wand to recreate the world. The years passed and I still felt that something was missing – a little love, magic. One day, I went searching all far beyond the mountains and rivers, in another country, land of art and friendship. ” ─ Albena Vatcheva
“Albena is a young French artist of Bulgarian origin who advances in a spectacular way. Her painting is the heiress of various traditions, including that of masters of the icon. Using different oriental sources, she has created a world of troubling fairy, which exercises a true fascination over the eye, so much her glowing colors create magic. Tender, loving, her characters live in a world of peace, harmony and mutual consolation.
Let us not forget that poetry was her first passion. Albena lives in the parallel universe of tales, of big universal legends, of invincible childhood and enjoys an outstanding sensibility. The ease and the elegance she has acquired allow her to express a wide range of feelings. Spiritual and sensual, she is undoubtedly only at the dawn of more than a promising journey. We have here an authentic talent, especially considering her recent admission into the sphere of painting.”
- Canada Montreal 2014
- New York Manhattan 2013-2014
- Art Monaco’10 International Art Fair
- Art Shanghai 2010 International Art Fair
- Shanghai Art Fair 2010
Like most people from Eastern countries, Albena is intensely inward-focused, a soul searcher. Sensitive to the suffering of others, her childhood dream was to become a doctor – and art is another means of bringing gentleness and hope into the life of others. Using color in her “organic and psychic” actions, to use Deunov’s expression, Albena introduces us to a violence-free world, oneiric, luminous, filled with love and compassion, yet not removed from reality or fantasy.
With Albena, light is omnipresent, making the characters transparent, as if filled with an invincible spiritual force that does not, however, eliminate sadness or introduction. Yet her works bring enchantment to the present.
Maeterlinck said that “what distinguishes us from one another is the relationship we have with the infinite.” Painting, like other forms of art, is really a metaphysical question, a pretext for excess in any form. It is about esthetics. “As artists, we cannot add pain to the world,” Albena likes to say.
The marvelous part of her gift is this return to a lost paradise, this dimension where childhood lives side by side with a profane and cynical world.
Albena is an original woman-painter, born in 1967 in Sofia (Bulgaria), who found her full creative fulfillment in France. The very particular style of this singular artist is the reflection of a sensual and spiritual sensitivity, of which she herself explains the cultural sources: “With the brushes of my childhood, I draw on my memories and dreams of love. The subconscious memory follows in the footsteps of my people, who have always sought, during the years of difficult history, the joy of living and the roots in the orthodox and mystical traditions of our ancestors.
My work is constantly evolving towards an imagery-symbiosis of different cultures, legends, mythologies: Persia, India, Egypt, Japan, Thrace, Byzantium. With an inspiration from stained glass, Art Nouveau, tales and fairies from my childhood, each painting is an “eternal shelter” for the best part of me – my dreams of youth – of this life and past lives “.
What sets Albena’s incredible painting apart is the oriental magic of its fabulous compositions, which communicate fascinating effects, served by an indisputable technical mastery and an ardent outpouring of bright colors. In this disturbing gallery of figures, the feminine element explodes in the elegant forms of a refined eroticism. The talented Franco-Bulgarian artist brings to her contemporary painting an unexpected style, the richness of which quickly imposes itself in the world of Art.
Albena knew how to give its remarkable talent an imaginative expression, which is marked by tenderness and a rare poetic grace. She herself defines its fundamental origins, “The act of painting becomes a magnificent meditation. A journey into spirituality, lost tenderness, love – the material that creates and unites. ”
There Is A Dream
What it takes to create a plain –
A clover, a bee,
A reverie.
If the bee does not arrive, the
dream will suffice.(Emily Dickinson)
When I was little, I used to be sad; I dreamed of a magic wand in order to recreate the world. Years passed and I always felt that something was missing – a little love, magic. One day, I went to look for all this far, beyond the mountains and rivers, in another country, land of art and friendship…
I think I was able to answer part of my prayers. In a moment of despair, I needed a “miracle” in order to start from scratch, to believe in myself again; I had to try the impossible to find my place in a country whose language I did not know, without friends or relatives. I gathered my dreams, the fairy tales of my childhood, the traditions, the architecture of my homeland; all kinds of images that I have come across in my life – real, drawn, digital, dreamlike – engraved in my soul; love, tenderness, poetry. I looked in legends, mythologies, mysticism, which is so present in the life of the Bulgarians; I drew on imagery of orthodox icons, Buddhism, old frescoes and I irrigated everything with the enormous desire to show that I exist,
So I took the brush, my magic wand and this explosion of colors, hitherto hidden deep inside me, made me feverish – feverish to continue the adventure.
Whenever I was discouraged, overcome by loneliness, a friendly hand extended to me, at the most critical moments, as a gateway to the future.
It is thanks to you, my friends, that the dream continues.
Main Awards
Bronze Medal Salon Of French Artists Grand Palais Paris
Award Of The Salon De Rouen – Salon Of Normandy Artists
Prize of the Orne General Council
Prize of the City of Clairac, Salon International de Peinture
Prize of the City of GRAND QUEVILLY Charles Theater Dullin
City of MAROMME
Prize City of L’AIGLE Prize
Approach
You are getting thicker and darker.
You acquire sound, fatality.
Many images in the soul await
God’s hand for it to descend –
But only yours
Tender – a dove – comes.
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
Painting by Artist Albena Vatcheva
View Albena Vatcheva Paintings
Artist website: Albena Vatcheva