Biography
Angela Pencheva (b. 1994, Sliven, Bulgaria) is a visual artist, NFT creator & designer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was raised by artists which fired up her interest in drawing from a very young age. She studied fine arts in “St. Cyril & Methodius” High School (Burgas, Bulgaria) where she learned the fundamentals of drawing and sculpture. After that she moved to Sofia to study Graphic Design in New Bulgarian University.
In 2015, she opened her first solo exhibition “Parallel Dimensions” and since then her name appeared in 12 solo and group exhibitions around Bulgaria and abroad. Her work focuses on subjects like the true essence of people, the mysterious world of dreams, fear and anxiety. Prior to working as a full-time artist, from 2017 to 2019 she worked as a Graphic Designer in Saatchi & Saatchi Sofia, where she got involved with clients like Audi, Coca-Cola and Chivas Regal. The next step for her was to professionalize by switching to the UI/UX design field and work for fintech startups. In 2022 she was the main artist for multiple international NFT collection projects.
Her latest appearance highlights are from EMPROVE’s group exhibition Awakening Between the Lines (2022) in the National Gallery - Kvadrat 500 (Sofia, Bulgaria). Her artwork "All I want for Christmas" was later sold at a charity auction for domestic violence awareness in the British Embassy (Sofia, Bulgaria). During the summer of the same year another of Pencheva's paintings was exhibited in Orizzonti Transversali, M.A.D.S. Art Gallery, Milan, Italy. Recently she launched her own NFT collection - Astro Cluster, which aims to develop a community for people interested in astrology.
Currently, Pencheva is working on her new project - a series of mixed media, large canvas artworks with a hint of surrealism and vivid colors, focusing on the human psyche. The artist’s interest in psychology evolved with the years which encouraged her to tackle this subject in the concept for her next solo exhibition.
Angela finds her inspiration in the world of cinema (David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick), music (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rainbow, Depeche Mode, Moby, White Lies) emotions, dreams and people’s diverse personalities. However, the biggest influence on her is known to be her father - Radoslav Penchev (Bulgarian surrealist artist).
Statement
"I like experimenting. Do I have the nerve to glue 1000 googly eyes on this canvas? No clue, let’s try. What would happen if I spray paint this terrifying dead cockroach in pink so it looks more appealing? Damn, that turned out to be one sassy cockroach. Stuff like this rocks my boat. My journey in the art world is always evolving, never staying for too long in one place. Because of this you’ll see different techniques in my work.
I also have a very deep interest in psychology. I like observing people as they micro-react in situations. That's why I started doing my portrait collection. I want to spill the person’s soul and true self on my canvas. What makes a human interesting to me is his authentic character. It’s a shame these days most of us try too hard to be somebody we are not and that adds up to the world becoming grey and monotonous. My mission is to prevent that and inspire people (and myself) to be more genuine, fearless and adventurous."
