“Watercolors, Graphics, and Ex Libris: An Exhibition by Kalina Kraleva"

07.08.2025

State Cultural Institute
The Palace Cultural Center
presents

Exhibition of Watercolors, Graphics, and Ex Libris by Kalina Kraleva
August 18–31, 2025
Gallery “The Quiet Nest”
Opening: August 18, 2025, 6:00–8:00 PM

About the artist and her world in paintings:

I was born in 1983, at the end of March. This is the time when winter gives way to spring, the period of the spring equinox. My arrival into the world on the border between two seasons marks and expresses the way I move through life and in my creative path. It is an imagined line, a path dividing the earth into “this” on the left and “that” on the right. My sense of good and bad, black and white, is both innate and shaped by my family.

The path along which my life unfolds carries the color gray, yet around it I can endlessly admire the infinite color palette of nature. In short, it is my ability not just to look but truly see that brought me into the magical, boundless world of visual art—a world without which I cannot live, a world where I find my salvation and solace. But let the paintings speak for themselves, live their own lives, and, God willing, touch viewers with the same love with which they were created.

I graduated from the National Academy of Arts, Sofia in 2012, specializing in Fine Graphics. This marked the beginning of my continuous exploration and work in intaglio techniques, particularly etching, aquatint, and related sub-techniques. Working on a zinc plate, even a small one, opens up a limitless world—one that can always surprise, teach more and more, tire with its attention to detail, but also fill with energy at the moment the paper passes under the press rollers and the image is born. A process in which everything is done by hand, with reason and feeling. There are no shortcuts, no way to deceive yourself or the viewer who loves the pure form of art. Sometimes there is disappointment, other times exhilaration—but all these feelings are part of exploring the uniqueness of this universe called graphics. Every day I wake grateful to engage with this universe, as well as the ethereality of the “other” side of my path—watercolor.

In both directions, graphics and watercolor, my driving force is kindness in expression, metaphorical depth, and message.

Brief overview of my creative journey:

International awards and participation:

2025 – Second Prize, International Ex Libris Biennale, Largo Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
2024 – Honorary Diploma, Small Graphics, Cantabria, Spain
2023 – Diploma and participation, Ex Libris Biennale, Malbork, Poland
2022 – Medal and Honorary Diploma, Ex Libris and Small Graphics Biennale, Wielkopolski Island, Poland
2021 – Honorary Diploma for Ex Libris on the theme “Divine Comedy” (Dante), Bodio Lomnago Library, Italy
2020 – Honorary Diploma, Aboensis Ex Libris, Finland
2019 – Honorary nomination for Ex Libris, Wielkopolski Island, Poland
2019 – Third Prize, Ex Libris “Marco Polo and the Silk Road”, Bodio Lomnago Library, Italy
2016 – First Prize, Ex Libris “Happy Birthday, Italy”, Bodio Lomnago Library, Italy
2014 – Second Prize, Ex Libris “Music and Poetry” (W. Shakespeare), Bodio Lomnago Library, Italy
2011 – Ranked among the top 10 international artists, Free Graphics Competition, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, USA