Colio (Kunst)

*****Colio Markov is a true artist. Sensitive, passionate and emotional about art, it is clear this modest man has a keen respect and deep love for the arts. Because of this passion, he is also fervent in his belief that art without honesty is faux art, not genuine art. He finds children’s art and primitive art particularly touching because in it he sees the ability to paint freely without fearing what others will think, or if they will like it.

Colio was raised in Kazanlak, a small town in Bulgaria in the Rose Valley. Growing up in an area rich in history and artifacts, such as prehistoric cave drawings, Greek sculptures and Byzantine murals, was akin to growing up in a museum, and Colio absorbed the artistic bounty that surrounded him.

When he was only six, one of his teachers called his father and advised him that his young son had artistic talent and should be enrolled in a school of the arts. Colio’s father resisted her prodding until Colio turned 13, and finally Colio’s parents agreed to send him to the school for fine arts.

Unlike American children who are chosen by merit to attend a school for the arts, art school and art academies in Communist Bulgaria were an unspoken privilege for children of good Communist party members. Only a few slots were available for the truly talented, which meant several hundred students across the entire country would vie for these few openings. Colio was one of the talented few chosen to enter the college and later the College of Fine Arts despite his parents' lack of political connections. He spent the next 10 years studying art and received a classical education in fine art.

After graduating from college, Colio went on to the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, and his life was set. Graduates were assured a good future because state-supported museums and galleries always facilitated the student artists and graduates.

Colio says, “A coincidence of age and time occurred when I graduated from the National Academy.”

With the fall of Communism, as Bulgaria opened to the West, Colio became aware of a whole way of life he had not realized existed, and he wanted the opportunity to explore art from the West with no boundaries. So after studying social realism for 10 years, he and his future wife, Darina, jumped at the chance to leave Bulgaria.

Soon the two were living in London, and it was an excruciatingly painful experience. Poor and speaking very little English coupled with no understanding of Western culture or capitalism and not having a family or money to fall back on, life was very harsh. Nonetheless, Colio painted in the evenings and finally felt he had enough work to show the galleries.

He carried his portfolio from one fine art gallery to the next and was completely crushed to learn they would not even look at his work. Wounded to his very core, the young artist went home and burned all of his work vowing to never paint again.

Fortunately, he broke that promise and years later began to paint once more. This time he understood business and Western culture. Because of his education, he was able to paint in any style and his career took off. Colio painted for numerous companies and individuals, money was no longer an issue, and he enjoyed a comfortable standard of living not only for his wife and himself but for his parents back in Bulgaria as well.

Some describe Colio's art primitive and that pleases him. He says, “Line is an optical illusion of the border where forms meet. I like the beauty of that illusion in its full range from a scratch to a broad spot.”

Texture, line and color organization are most important to Colio. He paints not to interpret literally but rather paints the emotion that resonates inside of him and interprets that emotion on to the canvas. Colio is comfortable using any medium on paper, canvas wood or even a brick wall. He is not satisfied until the piece is complete and all elements are balanced in all lighting conditions.

He likes to leave suggestive images as unspoken words that lead the viewer and allow him or her to complete the sentence using their own imagination. His early discovery of the suggestive poetic world and the mystery between the surface of reality have become embedded in his art. In his figurative works he is exploring the struggle between obvious and abstract, in a world of deep human emotion.

Colio is pleased to be with Rosenbaum Fine Art and have the opportunity to have his art, which is already all over Europe, shown on a broad scale in the United States. Unusually talented, and with a depth of artistry that few artists have, Colio is certain to have many exciting creations that will show his artistic maturity, talent and love of art.

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