STOIMEN STOILOV

STOIMEN STOILOV was born in Varna, Bulgaria in 1944 and is a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. He leads his visual articulations with a Surrealist nature, and works in his studio in Vienna. In the US, he is represented by the William Meredith Foundation in Uncasville, CT.

For Stoimen, line is a justified dominating force, and his visions are rich with symbolism and indigenous history. His poetic visions encourage viewers to imagine mythic traditions and lore. He spent time living among the Aborigines in Australia, one of the many cultural influences in his work. His art has also been influenced by the poetry of friends like Lyubomir Levchev (1935-2020) Poet Laureate of Bulgaria, William Meredith (1919-2007) Poet Laureate of the United States 1978-1980, and the poet Richard Harteis (b.1946).

In 1991, Stoimen Stoilov was awarded Gottfried Von Herder Prize by The University of Vienna. His work resides in Museum of Graphic Arts Albertine, Vienna; the National Museums of Art in Sofia, Columbia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland; the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris; Yale University; the NY Public Library, and the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington. In the US, his most recent shows were a large 2015 retrospective, including two 8 foot wide murals at the Slater Museum in Norwich; exhibitions at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington DC; the Lyman Allyn Museum, New London; and at UCONN Avery Point, Groton, CT.

Stoimen Stoilov is a first-class engraver and in his recent work he has attained a maturity of touch, detail, and expressivity of line, and a dynamism of the imaginaire which transcends not only the frontiers of reality, but also those of forms. The work of Stoilov is marked by a new vision of the most obscure recesses of the body of the being, of the animal, of nature and environment, and minutae of the articulations and body language. They acquire a lightness which makes them float in a space of overflowing geometric forms, letting themselves go freely in movement, in new imaginary landscapes.

Dana Baldwin Naumann creates fanciful and fabulous sculpture, mostly crafted from lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas. Naumann's hammered sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking even as metal surfaces, depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal scenes.

Naumann had a successful marketing career as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, but in 1994 he determined to devote his life to his art, a decision he says he has never regretted. He designed and contributed sculptures pieces to the permanent collections of United States Special Olympics, a piece on the Holocaust to the Thomas Dodd Center, UCONN, Storrs, CT; and to the Aids Project in New Haven.

Dana Naumann's artworks have been shown at Artworks Gallery in Hartford, Art Expo in NYC, Gallerie Michele in Washington DC, the Mystic Art Guild in Mystic, CT, Vital Gallery in Hawaii, the York Square Gallery in New Haven, Fre Wil in Los Angeles, CA, and at the Jewish Community Center in Amity, CT.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive. He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by ritual masks and statuary, like monuments or totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated faces appear aloof and ascetic, but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."