The story of Kiril Jeliazkov’s life well and truly deserves the attention of the people who never give up on their dreams. Born in Yambol, Kiril discovered his artistic talent thanks to an art teacher who advised his parents – a driver and an accountant – to give serious thought to sending him to an arts class, and then to the secondary school of arts in Kazanlak:

 “My parents were against because I had to rent a room and live in another town at the age of 13-14, but being so persistent, I was top of the list when I applied to the secondary schools in Kazanlak and in Sliven, after which I spent five years studying fine arts in Kazanlak. I applied to the academy in Sofia, and was accepted, and that’s how I started my life there.”

But soon after, as he watched the development of art in this country, Kiril decided he wanted to try his luck in the US.

“We managed to send out a circular email to more than 300 universities in America and it went something like this: Hello, I am Kiril Jeliazkov, an artist from Bulgaria, I would like to know what the potential application conditions are for the given institution,” Kiril Jeliazkov remembers. “Within 2-3 weeks they had started sending catalogues to my address in Yambol.”

He chose Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia where the 15,000-dolar scholarship covered around half of the education. Besides photographs of 32 of his works, the college required knowledge of the English language and proof of USD 20,000 in a personal bank account. As he did not meet requirement 2 and 3, Kiril took the risk and only sent his drawings. His works made such an impression on the college president that he granted one of only six scholarships covering the entirety of his education there, with all materials he needed, accommodation and food. The only thing he had to provide for himself were an airline ticket and a visa – and that proved to be very problematic, as the people at the embassy refused to believe he was an artist. He had to go a second time and show them his paintings:

“I got my visa on 15 March, 1999, and I set out for Savannah College. I started my life here with 40 dollars in my pocket, two shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans. I spent my first year learning English and, even though I had everything covered and didn’t need money, I started drawing portraits in the street to make some additional cash.”

That was how Kiril Jeliazkov earned his bachelor’s degree in the space of two years – a time he spent getting to know his environment and taking part in small exhibitions at local galleries. He dedicated his time to modern art and was even able to meet Christo Javacheff and his wife Jeanne-Claude. 

And though he was not acquainted with the work of the avant-garde artist of world renown at the time, after several conversations with Christo he came up with the idea for his most emblematic work – the Orange Step, a painting covering an area of 400 metres in length and 6 metres in height, divided up into 128 canvases each 6 metres tall and 3 metres wide. Today Kiril is happy to tell the story of his major work – how he returned to Bulgaria for two years, shut himself up in the school gym in Yambol with 5 tons of paint and a special kind of vinyl that is resistant to all kinds of weather and started work:

“The idea was for the exhibition to be on display for one month outdoors, and that means it could rain, the sun will shine, there will be wind etc. The project comprises 128 canvases 6 metres in height and 3 metres in width which still makes it the biggest originally created exhibition in the world. What provoked me was the fact that galleries determine the degree of success depending on whether you have an exhibition at some prestigious gallery or not. That was something that annoyed me because it was all about pulling strings. That is why I say, and I believe it to this day, the world becomes my gallery.”

He called the project Orange Step, leaving his own footprint in orange on each of the canvases. And if you are wondering why orange – well, that is Kiril Jeliazkov’s favourite colour. His work caused quite a stir in the town park in Yambol – the opening of the exhibition back in 2007 was even attended by the then president Georgi Parvanov. And it afterwards reaped success at his presentations in the US, among them in Savannah and in Palm Beach, Florida during a prestigious golf tournament.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos courtesy of Kiril Art Jeliazkov