Samuil Velev

Trained at the National School of Fine Arts, Samuil continued his studies at the National Academy of Art in Sofia, initially within the Fashion program before returning to the Painting department to pursue a more focused visual practice.

An Erasmus exchange at the Brera Academy in Milan marked an important shift, deepening his engagement with color experimentation, form, and distortion.

Following graduation, Samuil was selected for the emerging artists section of the Sofia Art Fair and presented a first solo exhibition at Bobbina CS in Sofia. His works have since been featured in Art Start and recognized with the Visual Artist of the Year award from the Stoyan Kambarev Foundation.

Working primarily through figurative painting, Samuil explores the psychological and emotional layers of human presence. Their practice focuses on how identity, tension, and interpersonal dynamics can be suggested through gesture, spatial relationships, and subtle visual cues rather than direct narration. Themes of solitude, ambiguity, and relational absence recur throughout the work.

Approaching each project intuitively, Samuil adapts medium, scale, and material to the conceptual needs of the image, aiming to capture human character as something unstable, incomplete, and felt more than fully defined.