SUZANNA VANGELOV

Since graduating from the National Art School in 2020, light and shadow have remained integral to Suzanna Vangelov’s artistic practice. Working predominantly with abstract painting, she is deeply influenced by the natural environment that surrounds her.

Painting from a light filled studio positioned beneath a canopy of grey gums, Vangelov looks for the shadows and negative spaces between these natural forms. Birds flying above represent a mediation between heaven and earth. Filtering down through her psyche, these elements of nature reemerge in Vangelov’s paintings as abstract shapes and a monochromatic palette that shimmers with a sense of movement. Viewing her studio practice as part of a daily ritual that also includes hiking along the coastline and swimming in the ocean, Vangelov’s most recent work recalls elongated rock formations carved by the sea.

Elements of construction are often evident in Vangelov’s surfaces. Working horizontally on a large scale, Vangelov cuts into swathes of canvas and then reassembles the raw forms to build her visuals. Fabric creases and textures remain intact and provide a nuanced and tactile surface. Secured with a mixture of pigment and rabbit skin glue or stitched together with thread, Vangelov relates these techniques to the physical processes of transformation, healing and strengthening. It is also a nod to craft practices traditionally considered to be “women’s work” like sewing, mending and binding.

An additional formative experience for Vangelov was partaking in a Feminist Residency at Centre Pompadour in the north of France in 2023. She spent time in their extensive library and was inspired by the writing of Austrian American historian Gerda Lerner, particularly The Creation of Patriarchy, which has since influenced her approach to art making. An interest in feminism and its influence on art history and creativity remains an ongoing path of research for Vangelov.

In her most recent work, Vangelov looks to the liberation of the female body as inspiration for the shapes and forms she assembles, and the softer palette she employs. Taking issue with the historical patriarchal control of female sexuality, Vangelov instead celebrates the curves and folds of the body, setting them loose to revel in the freedom and power of unencumbered pleasure and sensuality.