Category Archives: Bulgaria

Plovdiv street art

Posted on by
Reply

While walking around the city of Plovdiv I found a lot of great street art.

below:  A floating candle in the night sky,

mural of a man from behind, one hand behind his back , the other hand in the air just released a candle, or is reaching for the candle

below: Behind the Drama Theatre in Plovdiv, on one of its bright red walls, is a large mural by Bozko. Is this older man in a jester outfit a political statement?

a large mural of an older man in jester outfit, with arms crossed in front of him, make up on his face

below: These red walls were also painted with a large horizontal mural (next three photos).  A woman sleeps among purple flowers.  Is she dreaming of skulls and hands?  Is it a nightmare?

below: As much of the mural as I could get in one photo.

below: Another woman sleeps but with books as her pillow.   Transported into dreamland by the words she’s read.


below: Bloody Romance by Ernaste Nasimo

the story of romance, a mural by ernesto nasimo of a man giving a blue flower to a woman with shoulder length brown hair, on a red background

below: Another painting by Nasimo called “The Chain Rockers”.  It looks like he has just broken the chain with his teeth.  Behind the head is an open book with words written on the pages.  On the left is “raja-vidya raja-guhyam pavitram idam uttamam pratyaksavagamam dharmyam su-sukham kartum avyayam”.  On the right is the partial translation of this Krishna text into English: “This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct”

mural on a wall of the head ans shoulders of an older balding man with beard, moustache, and large white teeth. He has an angry look on his face. his collar is in Bulgarian colours, red, yellow and black. An open padlock is in his beard and a chain runs across the lower par tof his face but it lookslike he has just broken it with his teeth

below: Watermelon seeds make the eyes and nose of the watermelon face… but then he eats the watermelon?  Two paintings by Viktoria Georgieva and Nikolay Bozhinov, aka Mouse and Nikkawhy

two murals side by side, one by mishka the mouse, and the other by aleksi varna. on the left is a watermelon cut open, seeds form a happy face, and the mural on the right is a person in round glasses eating a slice of watermelon

below: A boy with a large black bird painted on a box.

a painting on an electrical box on the street, of a boy with round orange glasses holding a large black bird

below: Four eyes, one of which is the handle for the box.

below: Cupid in browns pointing his arrow at an unsuspecting victim.

a small graffiti piece of a small chubby partially naked cupid with an arrow ready to shoot from his bow.

below: Bare toes, blue jeans, and a striped sweater.  A comb in one pocket and a little critter in the other.

below: Some whimsical, cartoon-like characters on a blue cloud.

small mural of a group of cartoon-like characters standing on a blue cloud, signature is mora.

below: She’s wearing flowers in her hair – is that hair being held up with chopsticks?

mural of a woman with large glasses and two flowers in her hair. she is holding something blue in one hand

below: A very long tongue from a happy frog wraps itself around a dragonfly.

below: My Bulgarian is non-existent so I’m not sure what this says.  Covered in tattoos and puffing on red smoke as he takes a rest on his bike.

mural of a bald man with a mustache on bike with lake and sunset behind him, puffing on red smoke, covered in tattoos,

below: And last, a quiet cup of tea by the mail box in the shadow of little triangular flags hanging across the street.

All in white, like a silhouette, a tall lamp stand with three lamps at the top, a woman sitting beside a table with a tea pot and a vase on it.

Stern in Plovdiv

Posted on by
Reply

There are numerous paintings by Bulgarian street artist Dimitar Mekhandziiski (aka Stern) in Plovdiv Bulgaria.   Here are some of the ones that I saw in April 2017. a woman is taking a photo of a large mural by Dimitar Mehandjiiski a k a stern in Plovdiv, external wall, puppets people

below: A dragon hand puppet on the end of a blue arm and another man in a red hoodie, looking down on the stage as a man walks past.

a man with a blue face and blue arm holds a dragon hand puppet while another man in a red hoodie holds a fox puppet

below: The making of a wooden puppet?

an older man with reading glasses and balding hair holds a wood puppet with a round head and a stick-like neck

below: The crocodile (alligator?) has a blue glass heart between its jaws.  Be careful!  Is that a grenade inside the crystal?

looking at the corner of a building, with murals on two sides. One side is of a man riding a purple and pink alligator or crocdile. The other side is not seen as easily and are more creatures

below: Empty chairs and a table in front of a mural… a pink creature beside another ugly creature with green skin, beady eyes, and a very long tongue.   Inside the window next door is the face of a strangely beautiful character with long hair, pink eyes, and blue skin.  In its hand (with watch on its wrist) is a flaming torch.

murals by stern on the side of an old building in Plovdiv

below: Riding the dragon (crocodile?) and wearing a mask.

a person in a mask with an orange beak is sitting on what looks like an inflatable green dragon

below: In contrast to his other work, this frog and these mushrooms look much more realistic.

A light green frog sits on a dark green leaf, mushrooms on both sides of him, some of the mushrooms have beige and white striped caps and some have red tops with white dots

Massimo’s woman in Sofia

Posted on by
3

A large mural of a young woman wearing traditional Bulgarian clothes has been painted by street artist massimo on the side of a building in Sofia.  She is holding a loaf of bread – bread plays an important role in Bulgarian traditions, customs and holidays.

mural by street artist massimo on the side of a building in Sofia, mural is about 3 storeys high. Woman is dressed intraditional Bulgarian costume

She has a flower in her hair, a rose, which is the national flower of Bulgaria.   But not all of the symbols that she is adorned with are Bulgarian.  On her forehead and around her neck are “third eye” symbols, or chakras.

top part of mural by massimo, woman's upper body and head. she is holding a loaf of bread in her hands.

two turquoise metal chairs and a little round grey table sit on a sidewalk in front of a large mural of a woman. Only the feet, ankles and calfs are visible.

She stands tall, smiling over the sidewalk, perhaps she’s wiggling her toes.

in a Sofia parking lot

Posted on by
3

This is a mural to honour and celebrate, Sofia.  As to whether or not the city was named for a person is in some dispute so maybe this is Soifa personified.  On the far left is a lion, symbol of Bulgaria and the name of one of the Sofia bridges.

long mural on a wall, Soifa, about Sofia, lion nead and head of Sofia looking regal

A close up of Sofia:

part of a larger mural, the head of a queen, supposed to be Sofia

The other bridge in Sofia is the Eagle Bridge, so an eagle appears at the other end of the mural.  Jan One is the signature by the eagle.

street art mural including an eagle head

There are two walls that abut this parking lot.  The other wall looks like this:

Chupa chups logo painted large on a wall in Sofia, exterior

On the top is a large advertisement for Chupa chups candy.  This lollipop was the creation of a Spanish company in the 1950’s and the name is a play on the Spanish word ‘chupar’ which means ‘to suck’.  The logo was designed by Salvador Dali.

The bottom painting is a mural by street artist Bozko.

mural by Bozko on a wall in Sofia, a wooden person-like creatire with a long nose is holding a bird house, his nose pierces the bird house.