I used the simple and geometrically regular outward appearance of the building and decided to “cut it” in half in an irregular and palatable way through the magic of the paints and brush or with a secco technique. My purpose was when someone looks at the building to get the feeling that right now in this moment the boring warehouse is transforming into a hut made of sugar. When we look at it we see how the magic starts from the down right corner of the northern facade and reaches the roof of the southern wall. The absorption of the confectionary mill by the cake is marked by running frosting chocolate river that is also the border between the voluptuousness and the architecture. The saturated color instantly makes you wanna eat something sweet.
THE CONCEPTION
The “sugar garland”, full with catching eye details, includes delicate pink, purple, white, orange, red and green flowers. Their fresh colors are smiling at the passer-by, but they are also a beautiful decoration of the cake. The idea is the following – after the mill turns into a cake, the flowers with their sweet petals will be the decoration of the cake. The clients of this confectionary mill by all means would like to buy something, tempted by the delicious images on the wall and this is the wanted marketing moment of the project.
The cherry of the cake is the biggest flower, made by white chocolate, and his petals are yellow. If we look closer we would see that actually this is not a flower, but a sun and its rays are freshly cut pieces of spicy cake. The sun radiates from the wall and evokes thoughts about growth, prosperity and happiness. This causes rose-colored thoughts, coming from the sweet taste, and the endorphin from the chocolate blends with the happy excitement from the good memories. There is nothing else to do but to enjoy and try the produce of the mill.
But I didn’t want my mural-painting to be just one cake on a wall. I had the freedom to mix in my cake more symbols and signs. That’s why in the space between the flowers in the chocolate garland I mixed elements and motives that are typical for the Bulgarian national embroidery. The dominant color in the Bulgarian rug is the red, maybe because it symbolizes blood, love, passion, devotion and heart – the energy that transforms into substance and arouses life.
In my composition rambles the national energy, woven in the authentic rug with folk-style elements, combination between the energy of the unique Bulgarian folklore and my personal energy passed on the composition-mural painting through my love for the Bulgarian folklore.
In antiquity the symbol and the language of the symbols were the main way to express knowledge and conceptions. That is why in creating “Relish” I emphasized on Bulgarian traditional ritualism and symbols. Here is my “symbols recipe” used in this sweet composition:
Among the flowers there are six roses, decorating the cake-sun. They are not my personal fetish, and besides the fact that the roses are often exploited in the confectionery, these flowers are symbol of luxury. The ancient Romans scattered rose petals everywhere and in everything. They made drinks and dishes – puddings, jellies, rose sugar and other delicious dishes.
For the Egyptians (and not only for them) the rose is the sacred flower of the goddess Isis – symbol of the pure love. In my composition the rose is a symbol of the full happiness and of the pleasure, the delight from eating sweets.
The flowers can’t be without green leafs. Even one of the flowers has green petals. The green is a symbol of spring, always reviving life in the nature and in the human soul. Symbol of the new beginning, of the future filled with optimism. Also the green color is a symbol of the fertility of the Bulgarian land.
Here is the moment to reveal the last component in the project – the rest of the wall that is plain and white. Absolutely white.
We know that the white light decomposes into seven main colors. If we have the seven colors, their harmonious blending makes white light. The harmonious blending of the rainbow colors to form the white light symbolizes the godlike world, the purity, the perfection – as a symbol of the God’s spirit that is above all. In this case, my chocolate garland plays the role of the sweet rainbow. The white color in all religions is a symbol of purity and harmony. In our case the white supposes good hygiene in the kitchen which is very important.
The red is another color that is not missed by me in this mixture for the cake. When we blend the red with white and green the first thing that comes to mind is the Bulgarian flag. The Bulgarian colors – white, green and red, are unfailing part of the Bulgarian folklore.
The liquid form of the frosting refers to the water and the symbol of life and happiness. Here the imagination plays its part. Till now the chocolate rainbow was a “flower garland”, also a river. But also this bright thread can be seen as a rope, which connects and divides the white and the pink color. The rope symbolizes the desire for rising high, desire to try the sweet chocolate bar.
The presence of the sun is not accidental but influenced by the symbols – the circle is one of the main geometrical symbols. This is why I decided to place my sun in the center of its part of the wall. All of the circles in the flowers in my painting are embodiment of the Earth and the Sun, or the power of life and high perfection. The circle is one of the most common elements of the mythological symbols expressing the ideas of unity, infinity and high perfection. It symbolizes the sky in its circular and immeasurable motion. The same way the cake mixture is moving and spreading on the whole building.
My sun is fiery yellow. The fire has an important place in the traditional beliefs in which it has magical, purifying, protecting and healing power. The fire can chase away the demon spirits, illnesses, harmful animals and insects, it can protect from hail and blazes.
The sun is also a talisman of the flower chain. This refers us to an image of a clock, which measures the time. If we make a comparison between the human height the picture has 200% advantage. It impresses with its size – strikes with respect and at the same time stands out. Maybe you are already wondering what this watch is doing in this botanical collage. Looking at the mural-painting you would obligatory stop your eyes on the incrusted watch in the main flower. This watch will produce hypnotizing fascinating effects, which are well known from the psychology.
Thesis: 2009;
Location: Village of Mogila – Yambol, Bulgaria
Gratefulness & Respect
I want to express my grateful gratitude to Professor Oleg Gochev and to assistant Stanimir Bojilov for the reassurance and for the positive attitude to the transitional steps of the design of the composition, as well as for the ideological content of “Relish” that contributed for the final and complete form of the project.
Very special thanks to Krum Videnov for his help for the written presentation of the Mural-painting and Asen Burov for his help in the painting process.
Also, thanks to everyone who contributed to the creation of this work.
RELISH is a diagonal composition, exteriorly situated on the facade of the Confectionery mill “Tempo-M” in the village of Mogila, Yambol region.
I chose this architectural surrounding, because I wanted to contribute to the decoration and the local color of my Mother’s home village. Keeping in mind the function of this building and the typical atmosphere of the village, I created this at first sight “reckless” mural-painting, positioned on the northern, western and the southern facade of the building.
Seen from the north side, the work laps over a small part of the lower right corner of the wall, which thus takes us mysteriously into the composition and makes us look and see if there is no continuation on the other wall. And that is where – on west wall, is located the main part of the composition, which finds its logical end just to the roof of the south wall, overlapping only a small part it’s great size.
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