Ivan Alexiev, the artist that shows us the duality between vibrants colors and white and black

Thank you, Nina it is a pleasure talking to you.

I have creating, drawing, and writing since, I remember.

The range of my visual art is so broad, that it all starts as a visual picture in my head. The displayed Art pieces, of mine, are first seen in my mind-then I just implement my inner picture in fine art, painting, graphic work, or a simple drawing.

When one sees my displayed Art it becomes clear that I am influenced by the great art masters, of the past. So I walk the line creatively from the art that inspired me as a kid, until nowadays, and I can say that my artistic tastes remained almost unchanged.

The art pieces that inspired me as a kid still influence my current visual art as well.

For example, the origins of my graphic art emerged during the art lessons that I took from my grandfather at the beginning of the 90-ies. He was a very good visual artist and his classical education influenced my distinct graphic style. It is obvious that my pen and ink drawings resemble the German graphic tradition. Me and my grandfather, we were fascinated by the genuine level of perfection in the Art of the European masters.

Relating my rich & and vibrant color palette, I can say this is what pure artistic expression is all about. It ran deep into my, inherent sensitive soul, waiting to be revealed by watercolor, tempera, or oil artworks.

Where do such pictorial works emanate from?

I think the true artist is shaped by the family surroundings, by certain impressions and environments, So, do I.

I was raised in my grandparents’ house. A red brick building,(that no longer exists) harboring a small orchard and a stone patio, surrounded by lush greenery.

Both of them were artists. So you can imagine- every winter, spring, or summer break, of mine from school spent in this idyllic unique Artist’s nest! The well-kept gardens, the clear air, surrounded by the commandeering mountains…the birds, singing on their will.

Sweet memories!

I constantly created drawings in notebooks, mostly by pen, and the smell of tempera paint kept sneaking from the next room where my grandfather worked.

In the other room, Grandmother Ekaterina designed and produced sophisticated dresses, at the time. She was a fashion designer, of sorts, highly sought after in the city.

In the evenings, we were watching classic American movies or some noir European films on the TV.

Day after day, month after month, and years passed, the vital artistic charge embedded into my soul, growing, making me, setting my sign on beauty, onto the precisions, of the shapes and designs, turning me into a teen who was looking for, and appreciating the true beauty.

My both grandparents, were vivid, very lovely people, addressing the adversaries of life with laughter and often with a larger-than-life attitude. So… living like this as a kid you can never assume that there are also different people who live with envy, bad plots, lethal indifference, or that they are able to do great harm.

It took years for me to collide with these too.

But still, many years later I also see that some important concepts of life remain unchanged, like feminine beauty. The inspiration of generic beauty will prevail above, the current AI trends, as well as, the tense political times we all happen, to live in.

In the black and white works, common images of battles won are highlighted. What makes you create this type of work?

In my graphic work, I always try to convey and follow the classic ways of drawing, the composition of the rhythm of lines and shades, so as the inner motion of the figures and dynamics. One of the basic drives for an artist to create is the overall impact of the art, on the viewer or on, the Art client.

Having a genuine style that represents a rich imagination, makes the artist, standing, firmly away from the crowd. There is a certain romance in depicting battle scenes, too.

I depicted battles simply because I am fascinated by history. History defines us, even in that very moment. The constant human concepts, shape every one of us. Even without our knowledge or consent.

My artistic drive is related to the will to advance, to create, and to prosper. Somehow these dynamics are imprinted in my Art pieces. Life is a battle that is not always a winning one, though.

Hence the Artist strives to make his own controlled reality where the Good often wins. These, sincere artistic ways, repeated in many generations, so far, helped to make this unpredictable world, a better place.

You see, Nina, we, at least in the so-called Eastern Bloc,(which is also Europe of course)-we, happened to live in times, of prolonged agony of discredited & and inadequate, leaders…

Despite this gruesome fact, I was fortunate to learn firsthand, from a genuine artist, my grandfather who followed the old master’s ways.

I have been influenced of course in my early years by Gustave Dore(we owned a remarkable edition with the original Hell illustrations), Albrecht Durer, the French Masters, Eugene Delacroix, and even the American School of Comics and Illustration. I must admit, the precision of the Western Art school is most dear, to my heart.

I also loved the distinct works of Karl Bryullov, the art of Repin, and some of the Russian masters of the 19th century, with their rich watercolor tradition in Art.

Literature is one of my equals in magnitude, and passion as well. My favorite books are The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, the brilliant analytic works of C.G.Jung, the large canvases of Leo Tolstoy, dominantly War and Peace, and, the beautiful short story collections of Turgenev.

I can also say that the wide scope of classic literature influenced the dramatic tone and the magic realism, the multi-layered content of my most recent screenplay “Grand Fatherland”.

This is an unusual script, produced by me. For example in times of tech disruptions and positive changes, the part of Europe where I live mostly has remained a place, where the past, still dictates the present.

I was working as a concept artist back then. Since this time my studio has worked in all kinds of visual art.

Participating in the process of the art of film for the artist is a creative way of freedom equaling a dream to become true. Since these times I learned the specifics of screenplay writing and film structure, and in the recent September, I submitted my author’s screenplay to a major screenplay contest in the U.S.

It is hard to imagine an art form, more collaborative than filmmaking. I was positively influenced by the cinematic spirit since my early years in a very positive way. This was also a different encompassing reality, very different from the regime period, in my early years.

The art of cinema/screenplay writing, for me, is a timeless, bold declaration of artistic individualism.

Thanks for seeing me, in this particular way, Nina.

It became painfully clear that Communism or any regime is a sign of a disturbing history, that might also, concern, or affect most of us.

Somehow we also witness, how the demonic qualities of politics could be diametrically opposed to the spirit of the true living. And this fact is very frightening, indeed. Now, in the last months of 2023.

Well, I lived in the realms of my protected childhood home, in calm family surroundings. Indeed all this also happened amidst a calculating didactic regime, whose grim realities mostly lacked humanity. I regret to say that many of the stark features of such a system, still persist, in parts of Eastern Europe.

There are many terrible and brutal impressions left in my mind from this regime that I will not mention. I am afraid to say, that in general, I have witnessed the survival of the basic despotism of the heads of the tribe in a, still primitive society.

My gaze is deep, just because my creative work is mostly intellectual, requiring true, thoughtful dedication and love toward a piece of writing, or Art.

The pain you detected in my eyes…perhaps it is mostly related to the fact, that firstly my grandparents, even my family in general, were not a subject, or relevant to the communist/post-communist happenings in my country. So the stark contrast of seeing the warmth of your family versus the dubious, harsh nature of a spartan, hard-to-perceive, political society would evoke certainly, pain in the soul.

The truth is, as a multi-faceted artist, I still find it difficult to fit into such strange, fabricated realities.

I have to mention also that all my sales of Art, so far, came from abroad!

And not from the scorched-earth reality that only communism could leave behind….

There is always the question, of what have might been if my grandfather had not been sent to a communist camp, how he would have expanded his career, beyond borders…But in reality, he remained an unacknowledged, downtrodden member of the past elite….

These contemporary issues still have the power to sting most of us. Little ease, comes from the fact that my generation thinks in global means and I think the sad poetic concept of the melancholic Slavic soul could be left completely behind…at least in my case.

As a thinking individual, I find that happiness is a matter of a certain order of things in life. We build the architecture of our lives. I think there should be not allowed, no political, nor societal excuses to bring down the feeble structures of life, or to omit or erase, light-handedly the core values of life as family, personal aspirations and choices, etc.

Deep down in me, no matter the outer circumstances I feel that even the sight of a beautiful woman could bring miracles in my artist’s work. Creation and pursuit of talents, feel like a blessing.

In a global society, we experienced the blessings of tech evolution, but this gift came hand in hand with a huge disaster as the recent pandemic. I think as a human species right now we should be always alert about what happens, around us, about us, more than ever, before.

Creativity has the power to keep the inventing, questioning, mind calm, healthy, and undisturbed, exactly in chaotic times as ours, that has happened to be.

Pursuing an Art Business could be a magical, daring adventure. I am grateful that I possess many talents. Every talent has the power to open doors in the near future. As an artist I think, it all goes down to having genuine style and creative, progressive imagination. All this, combined with the specific, sometimes hard-to-understand, and risky aspects of the Art business, of course.