Iliyan Ivanov

The Silent Sessions VII : Abstract artwork on paper

2019-2022

Iliyan Ivanov was born in Burgas, Bulgaria. He received his fine arts training from the George Yanakiev Art Studio, Burgas, Bulgaria and the National Academy of Design, School of Fine Arts, New York. According to the artist, “Artistic expression has always been an alternative way to share my thoughts and emotions. I remember vividly playing "the drawing game" with my grandfather; we would start with ten sheets of paper and whoever completed first his share of animal pictures without repeating a drawing was the winner. Nothing could compare to the joy of such a win. Throughout my school years, I frequently drew illustrations as a complement to my literature assignments - from "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Alice in Wonderland" to classical novels and science-fiction books. It was like retelling the stories with images but taking it even further and creating my illustrative narrative. I view my art as a personal landscape where mundane objects are subject to new interpretations and previously unseen associations unfold. The transformation of meanings in response to changing surroundings is an underlying motif in my work. This requires an ongoing artistic exploration of contradictory concepts that coexist in the pictures I create - for instance, the illusion of movement versus the static nature of the painted image or the dual role of the picture as a component of a larger composition and as a finished solitary object of art. My inspirations often stem from scientific and philosophical concepts. My interest is in the artistic interpretation of theories, derived from robust logical methods, and metaphoric rethinking of hypotheses that suggest ideas relevant to everyday life. Such exploration tends to illustrate and highlight the emotional shaping of human responses to the interaction between the mind and the corporeal world. Focusing upon these interactions can facilitate the artist's immersion at the moment, illuminating the here and now. It is this experience that I struggle to trace and commemorate in my work. Another source of inspiration for me is music. Being a musician myself I have always been fascinated by the emotional dialogue that takes place between the musicians and the audience in a live musical performance. Translating the intensity and the dynamic of such performance into the "frozen" images of my pictures has been a lifelong goal. For me the interplay of figurative and abstract imagery is analogous to a musical improvisation over classical scales - one can begin and end in the same key but the journey always takes different paths. In my latest works, I have been exploring different materials and mediums - linen and canvas, paper, wood, cardboard and window blinds. The media and techniques used in the creative process reflect the underlying artistic concept - the mixture of "incompatible" pigments with different viscosity and solubility results in unpredictable interactions that "spill" from one picture to the next. This idea is amplified by neighboring realistic images and collages with expressive, more abstract brush strokes - a juxtaposition that prepares the viewer for the unexpected. It also requires that the viewer "complete" the artwork by "connecting the dots" and "filling in the blanks" in their mind thus bringing into life personalized versions of their own. Wassily Kandinsky once wrote: "Art is a path every man must walk. Every man must walk it creatively (whether actively or passively). And no spiritually mature man does not need this path or manage to avoid it." To me, it seems that the effort to actively walk this path will be the most rewarding one.”