YouTube Channel: VASSI D https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQRcw8TSuiv-JsgmxyiFZ6Q/videos

BIOGRAPHY

Vassilina Dikidjieva was born in Bulgaria. She studied architecture in the Higher Institute of Civil Engineering in Sofia, Bulgaria and continued her education in Russia. She graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. Throughout her career as a professional architect, she worked in Bulgaria, Ethiopia and New York. She currently lives and works in New Jersey, USA.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Construction-deconstruction, ancient-contemporary, mythology-reality… My artworks are links between my architectural background, cultural heritage, and contemporary art. Juxtapositions of opposites have been a theme in my art and design projects.

I use digital photography and video to explore contemporary themes and events, and address the fastchanging boundaries between public and private spaces where the camera becomes a preferred medium, which I call “self-expressionism” or “selfie-expressionism”. Works like Brexit, Grexit: Runaway Caryatid, Rhapsody in BLUEeish, 200,000 Dead Flowers, COVID Summer are installations, videos, and photographs that explore contemporary themes and events. In 2016, I participated with two installations in a group exhibition at Agora Gallery, New York, as one of the winners in the 31 st Chelsea International Fine Art Competition.

Since 2017, I became interested in printmaking. My prints explore classical symbols, elements, and iconic images in the context of contemporary themes and events. In the Winter of 2020, I was a resident artist in the Time & Space Program at Guttenberg Arts, New Jersey. One of my explorations during the residency was a tribute to Leonardo. Through a series of screenprints, I focused on the phenomenon that, 500 years after Leonardo’s death, Mona Lisa is more popular than ever, outshining all other art icons and becoming a symbol of the Louvre Museum.

Recently, my paintings have focused on the connection between a Metropolis and its people and their impact on each other. As much as the people are part of the city, the city is part of them. They project onto the city their aspirations, styles, and ideas. It is a place where the past and present meet. It could provide inspiration or disappointment, success or failure, be a friend or an enemy. According to Aristotle, the Metropolis is a place where people live together for a noble goal. However, for many of them the city is a dream and they remain a shadow, a reflection, a disappearing image on a shiny building surfaces or invisible figures in the city fabric.

Email: vdikidjieva@gmail.com

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