Mariangela

Bulgarian

SURPRISE Art – Art as a magical tool in society

In this time of war in Europe, of fears and crisis of beliefs and ideologies, as an artist, my reaction is not of closing myself in Art, but on the contrary of trying to open art to what is happening around us. Not in the form of social art, but as an unexplored tool of transformation.

In prehistoric times, art had the function of transformation of reality!

Why have we neglected this potential of art? From my long practice as artist and art instructor, I came with a tool, I call “Surprise Art”, which I use in my personal art and, as well, as a way to connect with other people through art.

For centuries, artists were regarded with admiration for gaining full control over line, shape and color.

But, when controlling everything, painting feels like a monologue and inversely, with this technique, we discover the joy of a dialogue with the color and the form.

My last series of work are done on the principle of Wet on Wet, whether with acrylic or with watercolor. Acrylic allows me to work on big surfaces like the famous american abstract artist Helen Frankenthaler. My intervention on the surface is followed by an unexpected or partly unexpected reaction from the acrylic media and provokes in me another intervention and so on, until we both surrender to a delicate unique balance, obtained as a product of this dialogue.

 The practice creates a feeling of lightness kindred to meditation, and gives access to a world of freedom, improvisation and discovery. It has the potential of revealing our genuine deep self and of empowering each person to listen to his own intuition.

Further on, I developed a tool to Initiate an audience of any background willing to experiment with my way of working.

The results scale from simple joy from the relaxation to making genuine artworks, stories, group creativity, theatre, sound and basic filmmaking.

I started a YouTube channel called Surprise Art where I publish those experiences.

You can see examples of videos created by me or together with students of all ages with the technique of Surprise Art: http://www.youtube.com/@surpriseart9481

http://UCecYeeF9OkVULafP_T5TPwg

Further on, I developed a tool for Initiation for an audience of any background willing to experiment with my way of working.

The results scale from simple joy from the relaxation to making genuine artworks, stories, group creativity, theatre, sound and basic filmmaking.

I started a YouTube channel called Surprise Art where I publish those experiences.

You can see examples of videos created by me or together with students of all ages: http://www.youtube.com/@surpriseart9481

MARIANGELA ANASTASSOVA
has graduated in Painting from the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris .
She also studied Graphic Arts in Molino de Santo Domingo and obtained a Master Degree in Latin American Literature from UNAM (both in Mexico City)
and has exhibited widely around the world. She lives now in Sofia, Bulgaria and teaches Art at the Anglo-American school.
Among her most important exhibitions are:

Invitation to Levitation: - September 2020 - Gallery Rakursi

Shrub's Soul -  November 2018 - San Stefano Plaza Gallery, Sofia

Witch's Brew - Мay 2018 – “Kushtata na Sofia” – interactive painting exhibition

9 Steps to the most important _ interactive painting exhibition, Rakursi gallery, February/March, Sofia, 2016

Interactive Baroque – Historical museum, Stara Zagora, June, 2015

“Stir the music” – interactive art performance for the night of the museums – Vladiguerov museum – June, 2015

“Interactive Baroque Angel” – Sevlievo, Bulgaria, December 2014 – January 2015

"Yogurt Art" – interactive exhibition for the Night of Museums at Pazardjik, Bulgaria, May, 2014

"Yogurt Art" - interactive project for Cite des Arts Paris - Nov-December, 2013

Sourdough for BREAD - part of a curator's exhibition at ShipkaNo6, Union of Bulgarian Artists;2012
"Be a bird" - interactive exhibition - gallery Industrialna, 2012
"Yeast" - interactive painting exhibition at gallery Rakursi, Sofia, 2012
“The Bulgarian umbrella from the other side” – exhibition at the gallery Rakursi, Sofia – September 2010
“The Bulgarian umbrella from the other side” – performance –June 29, July 1, 2010, garden of the national Library, Sofia
"Sofia puddles" in September 2009 at the gallery Shipka6 with paintings and installations.
The "Signs, Shadows & Echoes" multimedia project together with Milen Panayotov
- based on the beliefs and traditions in Bulgaria before Christianity
at Banegaarden Kunst og Kultur of Aabenraa, Denmark, July 2006
in the crypt of Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Sofia, May 2006
A series of digital variations of 2 paintings, French Institute, Sofia, February 2005.
"Transparent Cola graph" at the Art centre, Delft, Holland, April 2004
A series of Angel paintings at the Connoisseur's gallery, 10 Mazarine street, Paris, May 2003;
A series of paintings in the Town Hall, Edessa, Greece, May 2002
At the International Painting salon in Nancy, France Mariangela has been awarded the 3rd prize, November 2001.

As an artist she has worked

in

Surprise Art Presentation at the International Conference Art and Society in Saragoza, Spain- July 2022

EU School of Participation: Novi Sad, Serbia – online participation - June 2021

at Cite des Arts, Paris, November, December 2013
in the castel Mojmirovce, Slovakia (2012)
in Aabenraa, Denmark (2006);
Zadar, Croatia (2002);
Valparaiso, Spain (2001).

She has worked with different media: performance, installation, painting, graphic art, wall painting.
email: amariange@yahoo.fr