One artist that has been lighting up my life recently, is Bulgarian born and Canadian based artist Maria Kiriakov. Classically trained and with an original eye including a Master’s Degrees in Mural Painting from The National Academy of Art in Bulgaria, and in Painting and Graphics from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Maria creates a dreamlike world across her large scale works, which are rich in fantasy and colour.
Imagine how thrilled I was to be painted by her surrounded by a myriad of portraits in a circular canvas? Let’s just say that the experience was nothing short of life affirming. I caught up with Maria recently to find out how she works, her myriad inspirations and what being an artist means to her! Thank you Maria!
Maria Kiriakov - Constantin / Mixed Media.
Where is home, and what does home mean to you?
For the last 30 years, my home is in Ottawa, Canada, while my second home is in Sofia, Bulgaria. In Canada I carry out commercial work for a steady income and I was able to make a nice studio for my fine art work. Europe is my soul and I am spending time to recharge, visit the wonderful museums and enjoy the social life over there. While North America satisfies my material needs and offers me good working conditions, Europe is for recreation and pleasure which are both essential to satisfy the needs of the soul.
Are you from an artistic family?
Yes, my father was a documentary filmmaker, and a passionate photographer. My mother painted for pleasure and she was my first teacher. My great-grandmother was one of the very first female photographers in Bulgaria. I am still in love with her sepia portraits and the various photos of family members.
Who, were and who are your biggest artistic influences?
It is difficult to say. I have many loves from different periods of my life. Our house was full with artbooks and as a kid I was redrawing Frans Hals or Michelangelo with a pencil on my scrapbooks! I was born in the land of the Greco-Byzantine culture, then baptised in the Orthodox iconography and canonical church frescos. In my early youth I was very much influenced by the great Russian masters; having spent hours upon hours reading and dreaming of the classic Russian literature, or going to ballet and classical music concerts!
When I lived in Vienna I was fascinated by the Viener school, Austrian Secession, the Fantastic Realists. I love German expressionism too. My big love is the Italian Early Renaissance masters. Europe's museums are where I spend my vacations!
In North America I worked hard in the film animation industry and accepted the American mish-mash of cultures and the freedom to create and feel unburdened by traditions. Every day I spend time looking for new artists to love and learn from them.
Frans Hals - Laughing Boy 1625.
How important is the fantasy element in your work?
Fantasy is a very important part of my visual language and allows me to tell visual stories, sometimes with an abstract message. I use various mythological and folkloristic images to create my own unique visions. For me, drawing and painting are all about telling a story and making the viewer feel something. I am trying to do poetic and peculiar paintings, or paintings that are in conversation with the past and present time.
Are there recurring themes in you work?
If art can be compared to homeopathic remedies, some artists are mirroring the disease of society in order to correct itself, others are boosting the immune system of the weakened body to be able to survive all illnesses. I am an artist from the second type- creating life affirming and celebratory paintings despite my constant fights with pessimism and depressive moods.
Are you classically trained or self taught, how did you hone your skills?
I am classically trained in the Art Academy Sofia Bulgaria and University for Applied Arts in Vienna.
Why painting?
Simple. I paint because only this interests me and at the end of the day, makes my life worth living.
How long from initial concept to completion, do you work quickly?
Nowadays I work relatively quickly. My stream of creating my own work and developing my own ideas is constant. It is interrupted only if I have to stop out of necessity, say if I have to carry out any commercial work, which ultimately pays the bills. In a way this is not bad because it keeps me grounded and in touch with real life. It also feeds my inner artistic life with a variety of experiences like pain, trauma, anger, fear, sometimes humour & joy, which I am trying to digest and convert into something positive.
How has new technology helped your artistic process and the works that you create?
I have spent 30 years of my professional life in front of the computer, creating work with a human hand! However, the process of creating something tangible out of real materials is really wonderful and organic. A computer, although wonderful technology is a dead box. Artists of my generation adapted their skills built with years of hard work to create this new lifeless media. Although it must be said that a lot of work still goes into creating and perfecting a digital product to look like real art. Now even it is called digital art!
These endeavours opened up new opportunities and developed other senses and skills in me. Due to a lack of time between commercial projects, I started making my own work and compositions in the same manner. Drawing, sketches, trying out rapid variations of lighting, harmonies, textures and colour solutions. I try out various methods and this allows me to come up with different results.
For me real art can only be created using real tangible materials.
Carlo Crivelli - Mary Magdalene
How do you know when a work is finished?
I consider an artwork finished when I realise that I cannot add anything anymore! Sometimes this process goes on and on to the point that I feel that I cannot reach the end but on other occasions it happens really fast and I feel satisfied with the completed work. ON some rare occasions I find myself unable to continue and I have to leave the painting for years.
What is your favourite period in art?
The Early Renaissance! When the magical abstract canonic imagery transitioned to aestheticized realism.
Which other artists inspire you?
I am attracted to many artists, and constantly looking for good art. I like artworks that are made without thought of sales and without striving to satisfy the taste of the general public! I love artists who have something to say, know how to do it well and are not afraid to do so. I love artists who create inspiring poetic paintings or those who create brutal realism; it all depends on whether the author's candour can move me.
Maria Kiriakov - Singing Children / Mixed Media.
En Grisaille - The early stages of my artwork.
What is your ideal working environment?
What determines whether an artist will remain an artist at all is his/her financial survival! To achieve something serious you have to work hard to have a studio, buy materials and money to live with! All this is terribly difficult to achieve nowadays! It requires sacrifice and deprivation. If you manage to achieve some acceptable conditions for work and a normal life, you may say that you are in an ideal working environment! After that you face an even more daunting task. This is the exhibition of your own artworks and possible sale but this has nothing to do with the ideal environment! It is destroying your small Paradise and optimism and puts you in deep depression. In the modern world it is becoming almost impossible for a single artist to succeed and to be in harmony with both challenges!
Maria Kiriakov - Lily.
How useful (or not) is social media for you as an artist?
The benefits of social media were short-lived. Now people are getting more lonely and desperate! They became restless and obnoxious, insulting others or trying to rob them. Social media is becoming increasingly anti-social, full of fake accounts, fake information, and scammers. However, I rarely found some wonderful, nice, interesting and inspiring people from far away!
The real horror will come when AI is in full swing and lots of people will end up losing their jobs!
I used to consider Instagram to be one of the better tools available to artists. I think the platform was very useful for artists in the early, so-called innocent stages of its existence! All this, before the commercialisation, NFT's, fake accounts, advertisements, paid boosting of content and all other harmful algorithms, like unusable working tags, restricted content, or cutting from circulation posts without extra payments.
Sandro Botticelli - Portrait of a Young Man, 1490-1485
Where are you happiest?
My brain chemistry produces endorphins mainly when I am painting. I like to travel, play tennis and swim, meet people that I can get along with, and fall in love with something.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on different ongoing series that are reflecting my pessimistic, nostalgic or optimistic thoughts about my life and my understanding of the world. I am trying to find similar minded people and to find a venue where I can exhibit my work.
What are my difficulties?
Transportation of artwork, and participating in prestigious art shows are both difficult and quite costly. Reaching genuine art collectors is difficult.
Maria Kiriakov - ‘Nick’ / Circular Portrait Unframed.
With my final artwork.