Thornbury artist Ivan Papazov-Vanche portrays the frailty and complexity of human emotion
Born in Bulgaria, Ivan Papazov-Vanche began drawing at the age of four and evolved during his teenage years from sketches of military ships and female figures to portraits and caricatures. During his years of classical study at the Art College in Sophia, Bulgaria, he developed a keen eye for the constant motion in nature and the movement of the human body. He also studied seascape under the tutorship of the renowned Bulgarian master Ivan Mateev and drew inspiration from the works of the Russan classical artists, the French impressionists, European artists such as Modigliani, Pissarro and Seurat, and from Picasso’s Blue Period.
After immigrating to Canada in 1979, he studied and taught art at the Ontario College of Art and George Brown College, and earned a degree in graphic design.
“In the creative process, I am both the creator whose vision generously weaves out a myriad of forms and the apprentice who refines every small detail until the artwork becomes alive,” he says. “Whether drawing a portrait, human figure or landscape, painting with oil, watercolor or charcoal, I find equal pleasure in my work; it is an enlightenment that on a larger scale produces wholeness and gives meaning to a fully realized existence.”
Using sweeping strokes, choosing unusual visual angles and emphasizing distortion, Papazov-Vanche’s graceful brush reveals the stories of human bodies and still-life objects in their non-verbal expressiveness.
Between his art projects and exhibitions, he also teaches figurative art and portraiture at The Hub in Meaford and at the Art Centre in Toronto and Niagara-on-the-Lake. To view or purchase his work, go to: vancheart.com. ❧
