"Melpomena" Artwork - Limited Edition of 12

In my work I'm exploring themes like identity, sex, gender, feminism issues, as well as myths, religion, mythological and psychological archetypes, psychology, various emotional and mental states, and subconscious in general, mixing socially and politically more relevant issues with intimate narratives, self-analysis and introspection. I always draw from the principle of dark feminity, celebrating and channeling dangerous and seductive goddesses of night, magic, chaos metamorphosis and otherworldly realms, female demons and nocturnal, oceanic or subterranean mythological creatures, together with film noir (anti)heroines, which are all also present in my poetry. The most visible and tangible element in my work is eternal obsession with sex, death, fetishes and taboos. I am traveling to those dark and disturbing realms of human psyche and experience, challenging fantasies and borders of identities and experiences. In that investigation, I am diving into the oceans of Id to emerge with hybrid creatures that represent different facets of myself and I am trying to tame the demons inside, that omnipresent shadow that constructs the dark, unsettling and eerie part of everyone's self. And doing so, i prefer bold, dramatic and more raw expression. But, when I deal with drawing medium, I engage in different styles, according to my momentary feeling: from intricate and detailed work that borders with visual stream of consciousness and hermetism, to clear, distinct, illustrative, descriptive and explicit stuff. Thematically, women and female creatures are the most present actors in my work, representing martyrs, queens, explorers, otherworldly entities, victims and conquerors of their fate and specific life journey. I am obsessed with possibilities of transformation and reinvention of self and with polarity between male and female principle and energy, which sometimes leads to representations of sadomasochism, and sometimes to merging of opposites in spiritual androginy, but those sexual, gender and social identities always dance on the edge of established normatives. So, I'm fascinated with dramatic contradictions of psyche, and I examine the tango of Eros and Thanatos, as well the relation of vulnerability vs. brutality, ethereal vs. carnal, angelic vs. diabolic. Little monsterish caprices and impulses are driving force of my work, creating macabre scenes with elements of uncanny.