Lyubena Fox

Happiness is a butterfly - Figurative Painting Colors Red Black Brown Grey Pale

2020

Hailed within the international art community as one of the 21st century’s most promising new artists, Lyubena Fox seeks to capture “the transitory beauty and emotions of life” in her intricately detailed still-life, figurative and nude paintings.

Born in 1994 in Sofia, Fox studied illustration at Bulgaria’s National Academy of Art, graduating in 2013. That same year, she moved to Florence, Italy, to study painting under John M. Angel at the Angel Academy of Art. After graduating in 2016, Fox continued her studies with artists Alessandro Dari and Roberto Ferri.

Fox cites the seasons as the underlying inspiration for her works, explaining they “symbolize the passing of time.” She says styles ranging from Baroque to romantic also inspire her, and she counts several artists as influences, including Ferri, American illustrator Teagan White and Polish Surrealist painter Jacek Yerka.

In many of her oil-on-canvas paintings, Fox uses a layering technique, taking advantage of the transparent and opaque qualities associated with oil paint to create a three-dimensional effect. She also displays a preternatural understanding of the relationship between light and shadows — this lends an ethereal feel to her paintings and is demonstrated in works such as the figurative Venus Cast, a still-life painting called Memento Mori and a nude piece called Forest Nymph.

Fox has already garnered critical acclaim and has won a range of awards for her work. In 2018, she won International Artist magazine’s Still Life Award, placed second in the BoldBrush painting competition in 2019, won the Best Artist Under 30 and Best Outdoor Still Life awards from the Plein Air Salon and was awarded the National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS) International Fall 2020 Merit Award. 

Fox has exhibited her works at numerous art fairs and shows throughout Belgium, Italy, Spain and the United States. Her paintings have also been featured in several publications, including American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur and Realism Today.

Find original Lyubena Fox paintings on 1stDibs.