Gabrovo, 1949
He was born in Gabrovo, central Bulgaria. He studied textile art at the State Institute of Textiles in Moscow, graduating in 1976. He later taught in higher education as an associate professor. His work belongs to the field of easel painting. His subjects include landscapes and still lifes (tables with objects). His most recent works balance between abstraction and representation. Large surfaces reveal panoramic landscapes or small dinner scenes. Objects, birds, and tiny figures interweave into a network of parallel multiple narratives. His style is expressionistic, marked by grotesque drawing and rich, free color—sometimes in warm earthy tones, other times in bright, luminous hues. Two key influences stand out: children’s drawings and the work of Marc Chagall, since Kolev also draws inspiration from childhood memories and the simple life of the countryside. In 1977, he took part in the Youth Open-Air Painting Symposium, within the framework of the Bozhentsi International Open-Air Painting Festival, organized by the Hristo Tsokev State Gallery in Gabrovo. Since then, he has held numerous solo exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. His most recent solo show, ‟Center”, was hosted at Contrast Gallery in Sofia in autumn 2024. He has also participated in group exhibitions of contemporary Bulgarian art (e.g., ‟Stratae”, Bulgarian Representation Building, Brussels 2009). In 2017 he was awarded by the Ministry of Culture for his work ‟Lights”, presented at the first Gabrovo National Triennale ‟Bridges”. In 2019, Contrast Gallery (Sofia) organized his retrospective exhibition ‟Roots”, emphasizing the idea of memory, a recurring theme in his work.