Kostadin New York Interview By Amanda Spadaro

Interview by Amanda Spadaro, New York
Q: You have a show coming up quick in June and another in August – have you been crazy busy preparing for these shows? Are there any pieces you've created or are working on specifically for these shows?
A: Hi Amanda. First of all, thanks for having me. The last couple of days have been a bit hectic. You know, installation, choosing the right images and artwork, invitations, brochures, and framing. I think I have everything in control. I have been preparing for shows like this my whole life, so the self-gratitude and the excitement associated with continual shows compliments the business. Yes, there were indeed several pieces that I had to create specifically for the show, and you know how slow oil paintings dry. The final results were worth the efforts. One work, called "The Horse," was specifically created for the show to show the audience the wide spectrum of subject matter that I include in my artwork.

Q: What's next for you after the August show? More school? More shows? A new job?
A: Honestly, this year’s resolution for me specifically was to move in a more technologically-oriented direction with my art. I think the world will start to depend even more on computerized technology. You can probably start to see that trend in my latest computer generated artwork. I love the convenience of showing clients my full portfolio through the latest flash website presentations. I have two designers from Utah working on my latest websites, which will serve to elevate my artworks and will bring the convenience of having full flash multimedia presentation available with just a click of the mouse. This website will combine my traditional artwork, through an elliptically rotational gallery, with smooth jazz music and light effects for the images. Every one of the images will be likened to my 10 main domain names and art portfolio websites. Of course I would not stop the art shows, and in fact I might intensify my participation. I do have a visit to Europe planned to promote my main websites and I have to take off a month, but after August I'll be back. I have a lot more ideas to fulfill.

Q: What are the similarities and differences between how art is treated in America and how it's treated in Bulgaria?

A: Similarities? Hmm. The art in both countries has been treated with a lot of respect. As far as stylistic varieties, America and Bulgaria have many similar artistic approaches: abstract, traditional realism, and contemporary art. As far as the differences I have noticed going through many galleries in both countries, the actual subject matter is often very different. The heroes and historical figures are different, but they all have similar ideals that they fought for, such as freedom and love. Another difference is that the iconography artwork movement is very traditional for Bulgaria. In fact, I studied 3 years of iconography in Plovdiv, especially "Tzank Lavrenov.” I noticed also that many of the major galleries in America had shifted mostly toward "Contemporary Minimalism," which is great! In fact, I was thinking about submitting several of my contemporary abstract paintings either to New York or Chicago.

Q: Your website features music on each page and you spent a few years as a child being trained in music over art. Do you feel there's a connection between music and visual art? What do you listen to while you're working?
A: Definitely! I'm very proud to say that I had the chance to grow up in a family with very strong roots and appreciation of the visual and musical arts. Music has always been an intricate part of my art. I wanted to paint and captured the same emotions that the master composers were able to translate through the waves of feelings. At first, it was not necessary to have a precise image, simply to capture and engulf the energy of the music medium. As I grew older, and with the help of many classes in the subjects of human anatomy, conminatorics, and perspective, I was able to define the shapes better, but I never wanted to lose the fluid essence of emotions.

I can't even count how many times I have seen the performances of Aida, The Marriage of Figaro, Madame Butterfly, Carmen and Tchaikovsky's overtures. And, of course, all of this classicism was observed when I was only 5 years old. At 7 I stared playing piano, inspired mostly by Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi. The classicism was not only present in my musical performances but also in my artwork. To this day I still use classicism as a main source of energy and inspiration.


Q: You've been immersed in the academic art world since you were pretty young – what are your feelings about traditional academic training versus self-teaching? Do you feel art school is really necessary?
A: I personally think that art is one person’s personality and soul. I can give you a few examples. My grandfather was self-taught artist; he would just pick up a few things that he found at yard sales and create a stunning masterpiece! I call this type of person an unpolished diamond. His artistic gift was inherited and he seeing the world through his artistic view. On the other hand, many of the people that I went to college with started as a beginners, and it was fascinating to see the progress of those individuals. They had to be guided to develop their artistic talent. So, in my humble opinion, I think it is a personal chose. To me, going to college was necessary to learn the survival skills needed to succeed as an artist. I had many one-on-one conversations with artists, professors, colleagues. I visited many galleries, and I had used many kinds of computer software that I could only dream of before college. For that purpose any college sponsored event had to be attended. As a young artist I had to communicate with wider audiences, and I was not only restricted to the art world. As an example, many of my current clients are lawyers, real estate owners, teachers, musicians, gallery owners, or just people who appreciate art.

Q: Who's your favorite artist?
A: Gosh. . . there are too many. Honestly if I start to list them, it will take me another interview page and a half. If I go for an American artist, I would probably pick Norman Rockwell, Russian: Karl Briullov, Bulgarian: Vasil Stoilov, Holland: Vincent van Gogh, Spainish: Pablo Picasso.


Q: Who or what is your muse? What inspires you?
A: If you let me use my all time favorite quote by Picasso, which will summarize my inspiration: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Also, human life is very short. Art lets me connect myself to the eternity. I would love to leave a few footprints behind me.


Q: What's your favorite work that you've done? What's the story behind it?
A: “My Hope" is definitely one of my favorite works. Later, this same concept inspired me to create similar digital artwork that served as a cover of a CD for a friend musician in Jerusalem. Her name is Shoshannah Sarah. This artwork served as my inspiration for an artistic individual and as a message to the world for a better future for our generations to come: our children and grandchildren. The light represents a forward progress in social and moralistic aspects. This artwork is a call for more understanding and a willingness to help the needy. Besides the spiritual aspect of the work, it is one of the most meaningful pieces that I created at Valdosta State University. It was a very spontaneous, but well-thought out piece. This artwork was displayed in the final show during our stay in South Georgia.

Q: Do you prefer digital or traditional media?
A: Honestly to this day. I enjoy working on both mediums, even though, if you noticed, lately I have been working toward my digital artwork. This leads back to the question two of our interview. I really think I'm a modern artist. I strongly believe that the technological revolution had made many of our daily tasks easier. So long as we don’t entirely try to depend on them, we have the potential to reach higher goals. As an example, how would one get announcements to the vast majority of people? It is much more convenient to reach 100 times more customers by submitting your ads mainstream. Same with clients, you get your message much faster, in fact, it is instantaneous. Maybe that's why I spend the majority of my time working through my multimedia presentations. My future goals are to upgrade my multimedia software and start several professional animations with created characters. Once I get there I need to pay close attention to crucial elements, such as realistic human habits, light sources, stereo sounds, and so on.

Q: Do you feel more drawn to portraits over other subject matter?
A: Yes, you probably noticed that I have so many portraits. People have always fascinated me with their wide range of characteristics, personalities, and facial expressions. For example, I always enjoy painting elderly people because of their beauty of wisdom. Every line in their facial expression leads to a path that they walked through. Their calm gives us a sense of awe, admiration, respect, and the essence of strength to move forward. Painting newborns has always given us joy. There is so much joy surrounding the newborn, and I like to express that in my paintings. Eyes have always fascinated me, too. They are the doors to the human soul, and I always pay special attention to them in my paintings.


Q: When painting you seem to prefer oil over acrylic – why is that?
It is more of a technical preference rather than just a choice. As you know, oil paint dries so much slower, and I have a lot more time to reshape the area I'm working on. Acrylics dry very fast, and I don't have enough time to blend in the colors. It is much more difficult for me to create the same depth in an acrylic painting. With oil, I can reach much more intense colorations, and I have much wider range of application of paint. I can use the palette knife to create texture, or use the back of the brush to create liner patter over the oil. These applications are nearly impossible with acrylics, especially if they are very thin.

Q: Your traditional medium work is all pretty classic and realistic, but your digital work is all abstract. Is this a conscious decision?
A: I'm really glad you had asked this question! Not many people have stared closely enough at my traditional artwork. In the future, I will insist on taking close up shots of my oil paintings. The secret is that they are intertwined. My traditional art influences my digital and vice-versa. If you have the chance to come to my show, I’ll let you take a close up shot of my art. Stare closely and you’ll see the same pattern that I used but simplified quite a bit from my digital art. The same happens if I happen to create a stronger digital art, and then I create an oil painting inspired by it. Zooming in on a particular area allows me to see my own artwork through a different view. Because of the abstract brushstrokes that I use, even in my most traditional artwork, zooming in has helped me to find patterns that later inspired many of my contemporary pieces.


Q: What's your favorite style – realistic, abstract, surreal, etc – to work in?
I consider myself an abstract artist because even in my most realistic artwork, I take a more abstract approach than the classical artists. I enjoyed this interview. I hope you have a great week.

LIVING ARTIST IN MODERN TIME

Here I'm again. Sitting in front of the blank page, just like covered pieces of my art or a new canvas that I had just purchased. Not that the blank space has ever intimidated me, but it has always comforted me with its limited dimensions.

Well, where should I start? I was born on September 01, 1982 in Bulgaria, Plovdiv .....Nah that's just boring....The truth is I've always felt that art had been an intricate part of me. I knew that I was meant to be an artist, and this inherited feeling had followed me from the day I was born. It was not a coincidence that I reached for the brush and not the ruler at age three. Art with its beauty and truth had attracted me with its mystical and unreachable proportions. Perhaps this is a nonsurgical dilemma of our coexistence or just a place where we run when the pain subsides.

As I was growing up and comprehending my surroundings, I started to develop my creative self. I grew up in a family in which musicals and operas were a daily routine for spiritual and moral nurturing. I can't even count how many times I have seen the performances of Aida, The Marriage of Figaro, Madame Butterfly, Carmen and Tchaikovsky's overtures. And, of course, all of this classicism was observed when I was age 5. At 7 I stared playing piano, inspired mostly by Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi. The classicism was not only present in my musical performances but also in my artwork. As I was growing up, I started to rationalize everything and question the vast reality. Even though the platforms were defined by their outer lines, I wanted to see them though my own eyes. I've seen everything in sort of an abstract and new way. The fact is that majority of the physical bodies do coexist in an amorphous or not so proportional way. This same idea for uniqueness and originality had always inspired me.


Either way, I never lost the love for the arts throughout my visual career. I have been blessed to be raised in family with an enormous appreciation of the arts. My father's side of the family had many generations of musicians. My mother's ancestors had been visually creative in their own way. So it was not a surprise that the same DNA just regenerated and transformed me to be another visual artist. Thank you for visiting my blog :).

This is an autobiographical piece that I had collected from my first book published in 2007: Kostadin Dimtchev Kostov, was born in Plovdiv, the second most populous city in Bulgaraia, on September 1, 1982. His father, Dimctho Kostov, taught physical education and coached athletes. His mother, Mariana Kostova, worked as a lab assistant in the second largest hospital in Bulgaria.Kostadin began drawing at the age of 3 when his extraordinary talent was discovered by his nursery school teachers. When he was in first grade, his parents decided to transition him to study music, so Kostadin began taking piano and voice lessons. Kostov's brother, Sivko, showed expectational musical talent and performed in places such as Belgium,Holland and Hungary when Sivko Kostov was in the Choir of the Plovdiv Boys( with instructor Stevka Blagooeva).Sivko Kostov is currently working as a web specialist and graphic designer, but he still continues his passion for music.He graduated from Lanier Technical College and transferred to Devry University.Kostadin's passion for the visual arts remains, and although he was a successful student in the field of music,Kostadin decided to move away from it at age 9 to devote himself to his original dream of becoming an artist. His parents later sent him to study with several of the most prestigious art instructors in Bulgaria: Fichev, Ahmed Chaushev (Old Plovdiv Town) and Stoyan Zavarinov (a.k.a., Tzanko Lavrenov). Kostadin's parents eventually decided to enrolled him in Plovdiv’s art academy, "Tzanko Lavrenov". There he completed a full course of training in the field of art, including subjects such as drawing, composition, painting, sculpture, studies in perspective, night act(an intensive course of studies of the human figure, including sketching), practical training, Combinatorics(intensive studies in the field of visual and perspectival illusions), art history and design, and Human Anatomy. After he had completed four years of intensive study, Kostov's family moved to the United States in the year of 1998. Kostadin continued his training in visual art and received several awards at his school at Lake Side 3801 Briarcliff Road: the High Honor Roll award, art awards for outstanding achievement, and an award in mathematics (Algebra2 and 3) in 1999. In 2000 he earned the Ford Woodruff Center award , and a Certificate of Academic Excellence. He participated in the Governor's Honors Program in 2000 and , was recognized for outstanding academic achievement as a state court artist winner (Mock trial Team) representing the State of Georgia in Omaha ,Nebraska. He further; received a Certificate of Excellence at the GHP Science Competition in 2000 (where he competed by building a functional mechanical device), and an Award of Honor in Pre-Calculus and Mathematics in 2000. In 2001 he was again recognized for Outstanding Academic Achievement ; he made the High Honor Roll with Distinction, and received a top score in AP art (5.0). Kostadin Dimcthev Kostov also has received awards such as Coca Cola’s prize for Outstanding Accomplishment in Academic and Fine Arts. Currently, Kostov is attending Gainsville State College, and plans to transfer to Savannah College of Art and Design. He has earned the National Dean's List at Gainesville State College for he has been five times on the National Dean's List, and also received the President Art award in spring 2005, and Phi Theta Kappa’s President Art award fall of 2005. In 2006 he was inducted to Phi Theta Kappa. Kostadin's also has years of experience using computer graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark Express, Poser 7,Flash, Fractal Extreme, Unlead Gif Animato,and Unlead® SmartSaver Pro .Kostadin Kostov is a current student of the exceptionally talented sculptor/painter/professor Gregory Johnson.For basic information, samples of his artwork, and contact info, please visit the artist's official site at: www.yessy.com/kostadinkostov/