There is one particular feeling which I am addicted to and every single time I get to experience it is as soul shattering as the first time I was lucky to have it. It is a millisecond between grabbing the risers and the final step into the abyss, in which my every brain cell along with every single body part of mine strives toward one single goal.
I take a breather, choose the moment, push forward and run. My brain is quiet at that moment, and my body works towards breaking the laws of physics and taking to the sky. Breaking that particular bond, that connection with everything earthly and turning into pure air, joining a different dimension that we are not supposed to have as humans but we are gifted with anyway.
Flying…
The moment I started my Master in Fine Arts, I knew I will end up connecting my academic direction with my ultimate passion. It wasn’t even a question as to what my diploma project would hold and it was sitting there underneath everything else throughout the whole academic period, patiently, waiting for the right moment.
It is not a physical visualization of a person in flight, it is also not the actual visuals while flying.
How does one capture a moment in time in a sculpture then?
There is no mass, there is no substance, just a direction, an action and a split second to articulate.
This is where my iron and steel come in.
I grew up inside metal. Both my parents are engineers who worked in a metal cutting machinery production factory before 1989 changed Bulgaria completely. I grew up with the smell of oil on cutting machines, the sound of grinding, and drawing tables as my first landscape.
I ended up as a Bachelor in Engineering as you could imagine, so the choice was almost predestined in a way.
The “iron” choice for Flight
Using iron as medium is purely intentional. I wanted “Flight” to be heavy and weightless at the same time with that feeling of almost ethereal direction and a contour that speaks volumes. Flight doesn’t need an explanation…It is!
Experiencing it and observing it are two very different things. What the repeated moment of taking off does, and it comes with years of flying, is that acknowledgment of where that bond with earth is broken. So when choosing the medium and then every single decision after that are bound to that understanding and to be honest, it makes it much more difficult to express. Because I know when it is not right…I can tell…
On the way to the sky
Every single curve, twist of the square rod and welding point in “Flight” are intentional. I walked with my hands the contour, the roundness, the sharp edges and the frame a hundred times. I wanted to make sure that from every vantage point I feel that moment in time I love so much.
There is a direction and a particular angle my body needs to embrace and I need to trust the canopy above to hold me. This is such a precarious balance that birds don’t even think about. They just do it, while we need to find it. And it all goes into those steel rods and what happens after.
What the figure knows
My rambles are not a show off of the sculpture. I don’t even aim to educate here as this is a very personal journey shared with the reader of one of my most precious moments in time that keeps me going. I aim to share it, rather than keep it for myself, which is different from the actual flying I do, as I don’t take too many photos while I am in the air. It is mine, the time up there.
It is like falling in love again and again just stranded in time for everyone to feel along side with me. Enjoy it!