About me

If one’s paintings can be called beautiful, and not in the sense of calligraphic beauty, but in the plastic sence of the notion, I think that Stefan Churchuliev’s most recent works, displayed at gallery “Krug +” are trully beautiful.

If the external expression of the form is a reflection of the inner emotional life of an artist then Stefan is an artist of fine poetic sensibility that interwines nostalgia for the past with the lessons of a modern artistic expression.

If the structure of a painting is a manifestation of the inner essence of its author then the world of Stefan Churchuliev is a world of silence, of mastered plastic space where the living rhythm of the line is both an object’s characteristic and a musical phrase.

If the thematic coherence brings out something more than the beauty of an object then the paintings of Stefan Churchuliev are beyond the realistic substanciation. They are in a place where colour, line, form – plastic substance in its totality has been transformed into a poetic reality.

The works of Stefan Churchuliev are both an expression of the daily routine of life and plastic messages from a neoarchaism, experienced, internalized and materialized in deep ochre, brown, complex oilgreen and violet spaces. The silence of the artistic medium is cut through by flexing black lines which are both a characterizition of the form and signals from another reality which reach us living and free, independent and unencumbered by the burden of the complex and rich texture.

The stylistically defined and plastically refined art of Stefan Churchuliev seems to come from the world of dreams and reveries like a silent cry against the noise and vanity of a sick time… A day comes to an end, the quiet evening hour welcomes the secrecy and mystery of the night. Time has stopped somewhere amidst memory, nostalgia and reality.

Here comes the painting…

Svetlin Roussev

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Memories, dreams, feelings, thoughts – all produced in a dim light shimmer. Faced with Stefan Churchuliev’s expressive images many emotions are brought to life, difficult to verbalize. Here are the memories and recollections of something that could be your own dream world. A pleasant mystery is mixed with an earthy authenticity, both in terms of colour options as in the unique material that is so central to the paintings – sand. The artist makes the most of the elements themselves – stone and earth. In his own association with these elements, he creates the world again – reminiscent of the old world, but at the same time so different.

The experiences we face are many. Visiting Stefan’s studio in Sofia is in itself an unforgettable experience – like taking a break from the “normal” life’s surface, diving under it and disappearing into an experience of the unconscious. In seclusion from the noise of the outer world, timelessness is created where life takes on new forms. Dream and reality are united. Through sensitive, expressive brushwork, through the sand colour and texture, new worlds are created – a microcosm – that will change by your own experience. Here is a genuine meeting between the self and something larger. The external world is transformed into your mind by Stefan Churchuliev’s playful, sensitive and stylish transformation of elements. To all who yearn to be immersed in a moment of existence, and mysteries, and to unify with them, I would recommend spending time with Stefan’s paintings.

Anders Kaliff