Ten Commandments 5: Filial Painting

Zheni is the daughter of the noted Bulgarian artist Violeta Maslarova. Migrated to the UK, where she attended Norwich School of art under Ed Middleditch and John Wonnacott., and where she later taught life drawing. She insists her method of working is 'purely traditional' insisting on light form and tone, although she uses modern materials such as light boxes, neon and illuminated wire. Her paintings are extensions of her exuberant personality. Over the years she has exhibited extensively in the UK as well as most of Europe. Her paintings are to be found in many private and public collections in the UK, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia. Her use of layers of colours builds up to a transparent surface, emphasised by the excitement and brilliant use of paint in their form. A French critic described her paintings as having "the colours of Rubens and the rhythms of Bartok". English critics have variously described them as “a concerto in colour”, “aqueous jewels” and “fluorescent, floating entablatures of scintillating colour”. The current works incorporate light boxes, neon and illuminated wire in a variety of combinations. All of them function happily as paintings in their own right, becoming a second painting once they are illuminated. The use of matte and reflective paint surfaces add yet another dimension to give an intriguing variety as changing light conditions and the position of the viewer interact.