Stoian Valkov

"Gypsies constitute a recurring motif in Stoian Valkov's works. It may be because the artist's life has been for many years not unlike that of gypsies - always on the move, always looking for a place to settle down".

Although he now lives in the U.S., Valkov hails from Europe's sunny state of Bulgaria. He was born in Ekzarch-Antiomovo, a small village on the Black Sea coast. As a thirty-year old man he moved to Poland and into a new linguistic and cultural environment. For a few years Valkov lived in Lublin, a beautiful city in Eastern Poland with a several century-old history and uncountable historical landmarks. While in Lublin he enrolled in courses at the Faculty of Art, Maria Curie-Sktodowska University. University level education allowed Valkov to become familiar with the history of art and aesthetics, but above all helped shape his artistic technique. He has very fond memories from his college days when he was not only learning the basics of drawing, sculpting, painting, printing and composition, but also studied form and - what was of vital importance to him - gained a respect for material and a solid technique. In 1992, after a five-year course, Stoian Valkov earned a master's degree in art education. In order to receive his diploma he had to submit a sample of his work for the scrutiny of an examining board made up of the Faculty's professors and present a written thesis. He presented a set of his sculptures while the thesis dealt with the work of his famous countryman - Christo.
Stoian Valkov's artistic debut took place shortly after his graduation. His sculptures, much different from his earlier student works, had a unique, individual style which clearly showed the birth of a completely original artistic vision. The need to achieve that indigenous style had its roots the artist's outlook on life and his psychological expectations. The view that "art has to be individualistic" was expressed by Valkov so often and with such conviction that it almost sounded like his artistic creed.
Valkov's debut was a series entitled "Gypsies" which was made up of hollow-cast brass sculptures. The artist showed figures of men and women frozen in dynamic, colorful poses. Among them were Gypsy women in wide, wind-blown skirts and the character representing Gypsy the Wanderer with a walking cane and a traveling bag across his shoulders.  

Although the  sculptures were figurative, they were much closer to abstraction than realistic representation. The figures were all highly stylized and dreamlike and all realistic elements (e.g. dresses and gowns) were there mainly as a form, a means of artistic expression. That is why the figures representing Gypsies became fully readable to the viewers only after a closer inspection.
That was the artist's deliberate effort which was to give the audience a chance for multiple and, above all, personal interpretation of the themes.
And the associations were indeed plentiful. Those who saw mainly the dancers frozen in motion in Valkov's shiny, metallic forms, probably thought about the fascinating world of the Gypsy folklore. On the other hand, the viewers captivated by the wandering Gypsy may have experienced the longing for a nomadic, yet colorful and intoxicatingly free lifestyle.
The second set of Valkov's sculptures from that period to exhibit the same originality and incredible concentration of artistic expression was a group of oversize and aggressively expressionistic portraits of Gypsies. Similarly to the works mentioned before, those sculptures were portrait-symbols, merely alluding at the human form. They seemed to be an attempt at creating a synthetic representation of a Gypsy, rather than a realistic rendition of a singular model. Although the "heads" were lacking individual features of a particular person, they all exposed familiar traces of a typical Gypsy face such as narrow foreheads, crooked noses or moustaches.
The idea behind that series of sculptures came with a discovery the artist made while working as a welder for one of the Lublin industrial companies.
He realized that scrap metal in the form of steel pipes, discarded and unneeded, could become artistically-charged material in the hands of a sculptor-welder. He proceeded to cut them into pieces with a torch and then welded them together to form the figures of Gypsies.
Valkov's early work was received with awe and even admiration by the professional art critics and the artistic community. What earned their recognition was the fact that the artist was able to so clearly establish his theme and his fully unique style of expression over such a short period of time. Valkov's sculptures were viewed as an extremely interesting artistic offering, both formally and in terms of its content. 

The artistic value of the bust is mainly in its paint-like form, bearing an influence of impressionist  tendencies, as well as its complex texture. The artist's treatment of the figure shows the urge to operate through a multi-profile composition, i.e. to create a form which is meant to be viewed from various, equally appealing angles. The varied, light-dependant texture is achieved through the use of highly polished, almost mirror-like surfaces interspersed with rough, wrinkled elements. The play of light achieved through the mixing of large, polished surfaces with elements full of small dimples and protuberances together with well-pronounced welds makes for a pleasing, paint-like character of the piece. The complete sculpture is a metaphoric take on a human portrait.

I have been following Stoian Valkov's career for many years. Therefore, I feel justified in claiming that both the deeply humanistic theme and well-conceived form of his works, rooted in an interesting artistic vision and superior technique, deserve the attention of art critics and enthusiasts. However, even the greatest talents need a helping hand. I strongly believe that if Valkov finds his Medici, he will shortly make a name for himself as a great artist. 

Jerzy Żywicki, Ph.D. 

Art historian Faculty of Art Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland