"Treasure Island" Painting

I was born in the town of Dobrich, Bulgaria in 1960. My formal education is music and I worked as a violin teacher in the early eighties. A desire for greater creative exposure and richer life experiences surged me to work subsequently as a prospecting driller, knife maker, blacksmith and ethnic jewellery maker, among others. After immigrating to South Africa in 1991, I went into the field of fine jewellery design and manufacture, and was awarded seven prestigious design awards for excellence in diamond jewellery design. I am still designing and making fine jewellery pieces in my studio in Cape Town. I started painting in 2003 as a means of exploring a new form of creative expression. I never paint real objects – the compositions and colours rather spring from dreams or visualizations. Conveying an overall emotional impetus is what drives my creative process, rather than a direct representation of actual forms and colours. I like to use vibrant colours and plenty of texture. With my brother Rado Kirov, metal smith and sculptor, held joined exhibitions in Rossouw Gallery in Cape Town 2005 and in Albemarle gallery in London in 2016. Up to that point, I painted mostly for pleasure, running my jewellery business aside, but after London I decided to make painting my main activity.