Nikolay Petkov

I have always been interested in contrast and conflicts.
The opposites black-white, bright-dark, east-west, old-new, spiritual-material are often presented in my works. I like to provoke by mixing visual styles and different techniques. It is a product of my desire to confront seemingly mutually exclusive concepts, which I turn into art as an ironic and metaphoric visualization of contemporary cultural phenomena.

The disappearance of some social stereotypes, and the emergence of new ones, the process of changing our cultural identities, the paradoxical co-existence of superstition and excessive information, are just some of the characteristics of a modern day person.
I use such phenomena to derive some particular imagery.
I often draw portraits, however they don't represent real people but some kind of photo-robots, consisting of diverse faces put together- mixtures of various anthropological types. These portraits are a sort of artistic documentary of non-existing human tribes performing fictitious sacred rituals.

During my extensive travel in Asia, I became acquainted with different and exciting cultures. The revelations about the richness of our world had great impact on me and my work.
At present, in my art...