Author: Nadezhda Tzvetkova
There is a quote by Nikos Kazantzakis, which reads: “You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go”. Well, the artist Kostadin Jikov does just that. His debut art show in 2020 at Vazrazdane Gallery is successful, marked by great interest from the Plovdiv audience. Two years later, the young author will present his second solo painting exhibition in the art space in the Old Town under the name “Symphony of Nature”.
Kostadin has diverse interests. He likes to play football, but he also enjoys dancing salsa. He is fascinated by Eastern philosophy, but he is also a follower of the great Bulgarian spiritual teacher Peter Deunov (known as Beinsa Douno). However, what gives him the deepest sense of inner peace and tranquility is his contact with nature. He adores it, for him, it is an infinite source of inspiration. He has a connection to it, it is reflected in him as a mirror. For the young artist, nature is a living book full of the wisdom and laws of the universe. Everything in it is perfect, it has a deep inner meaning and brings metaphysical knowledge. For him, it is the apotheosis of the beautiful, the sublime, the spiritual.
Kostadin has an intuitive mindset for immersion and is blessed with the gift of contemplation. He possesses rare sensitivity and a specific sense of perception. He often takes long walks in the mountains and always finds that musical motif that is barely perceptible to the human ear, which he develops on his canvasses to perfection. He feels the melody of nature, sounding with the chords of the wind, leaves, grass, flowers, stream. He senses the pulsations of the forest and arranges his pictorial tones so that each sound is recreated with hue, shade, color. Each of his landscape paintings is an impressionistic symphonic poem that tells the romantic story of the painted corner of the land. The whole nature is a living majestic orchestra, whose melody acquires density and relief on the canvas.
However, he does not perceive himself either as a composer or as a conductor of this natural symphony. He is just a conduit of a creative process. He uses brushes to record the harmony that sounds and the invisible love that flows. But he does it through his soul, with his heart. “Every time I am back to nature, I feel enthusiastic and childlike. My mind evaporates, the heart sings with joy. I just cannot get over it, I can’t get enough of this beauty! It is as if on this very day God created the world and I see it for the first time!” – exclaims Kostadin. Probably this is the reason why the vitality in the paintings of the young artist is striking and the audience often describes them as “shining”. Most probably because the very energy and vibrational code of nature are encoded in them. Each of his works of art instantly attracts with its panoramic view of stunning parts of Bulgaria, but it must be carefully looked at to reveal the richness, complexity, and saturation of the author’s color palette. Kostadin builds such a lavish amalgam of chord combinations so a melody sounds, that is not written with notes, but with a whole set of the palette, a string of overflowing states of colors that nuance and vibrate in a captivating way. Come and enjoy this symphony of nature!
Kostadin Jikov is a talented professional Bulgarian fine art painter whose career is on the rise. He was born in 1988. He graduated in Fine Art from the University of Veliko Tarnovo. He has several joint and solo exhibitions in Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv, Tutrakan, and others. He lives and works in Sofia.
Vazrazdane Gallery invites you to the official opening on 29th of March, 2022, Tuesday, at 18:00. The exhibition will be open for visitors until the 18th of April, 2022. The works of art can be viewed virtually, on the website, and the Facebook page of the gallery:
https://www.vazrazdane-gallery.com/index.php?route=product/author/info&author_id=59