"Hello, my name is Marin Marinov, I am an artist and I am currently an assistant professor of fine art painting under Professor Kiril Bozhkov at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia. This is the starting point of a kaleidoscopic story that will take us, like water, to neighbouring Serbia in the early weeks of 2025.

It is about the life of a young, talented Bulgarian. A sporting hopeful with a string of national and international swimming awards, who made it into the Bulgarian national team. Today, however, his path is different - more colourful and dry - and success is no longer measured in seconds swum, but in the thrill and emotion it evokes in others.

Marin Marinov "left" the swimming pool at the age of 15. "It was time to choose my path and to devote myself completely to it. I chose art because it gave me comfort, peace and introspection, which meant that I could better reflect on myself and the issues that moved me," the artist recalls.

After successfully graduating from the National Academy of Art in 2020 and experimenting with different styles, techniques and genres, today Marin establishes as a painter. A storyteller of his own journey, he reveals the depths of his inner explorations. All visitors to the Serbian gallery "Metodi Meta Petrov" in Tsaribrod will be witnesses to this on January 17, when the first solo exhibition of the Bulgarian artist will be officially opened under the title MARINE. The title is no coincidence and is not only related to the artist's name. Marine is Latin for "of the sea," which is also encoded in one of the series of 10 works that the young artist is showing in Serbia. 

The concept for the series was born in 2019 on the other side of the ocean - in the United States, while Marin was on a summer brigade in Annapolis, Maryland - working as a lifeguard and contemplating the series of works he would complete in Sofia the following year.

"The theme, yes, it has to do with swimming - swimming as a gateway to a kind of human introspection. Swimming as an opportunity to think about the body and its materiality. Also to become more aware of where our 'I' stands in space. If I can explain in detail - there are about ten large canvases in the Marine series, and I will also include a surrealist series separately to complete the exhibition. But these ten paintings are of bodies, one or more, present in space and very highly stylised."

Thus, between the underwater dives and the courage to listen to one's own questions, Marin Marinov's first marine oil paintings, created using the Dutch technique, were born.

"The Dutch technique is to develop the image in brown, especially in the shadows. When it dries, a new layer is applied, and so on, until a three-dimensional or lifelike image is built up. But in my paintings I did not develop the image with different layers and I did not complete the technique. Rather, I have left the elaboration only in brown, which has a special poster character that I like," says the artist.

His debut exhibition in Tsaribrod appears as a prize for winning a competition for young artists announced by the local gallery. Marin submitted a portfolio and won the opportunity to show his work independently for the first time.

"I was very happy. And we, the team of the Metodi Meta Petrov Gallery, knew each other a little earlier. Last year prof. Svilen Stefanov invited me to take part in the International Art Plenary in the Poganovo Monastery in the summer of 2024, and we spent about 10 days there, painting the landmarks of this part of Serbia, in the company of colleagues from the host country and from Ukraine".

Commenting on his stay in neighbouring Serbia, Marin said: "I have never been treated so well anywhere. This makes the Tsaribrod exhibition all the more special for him.

"I am really happy that I have been given this opportunity to present my art to people who are not connected with the Bulgarian reality and environment. I am happy that I can bring together people from my circle and at the same time meet new people who will visit the gallery. And that is very important for cultural exchange".

The exhibition "Marine" by Bulgarian artist Marin Marinov can be seen at the Metodi Meta Petrov Gallery in Tsaribrod until February 3.