When painter Zlatin Orlov works by himself in his studio, he is not alone – the music on Jazz FM keeps him company… And inspires him for the works presented in an exhibition at the A+ Gallery in Sofia. “This music is my rhythm and it makes me feel good; it gives me what some other kind of music could take away from me”, said Zlatin Orlov on a Jazz FM interview.
Jazz music is is this part of our world that is full of light, harmony and life energy. It releaves the tension and anxiety that we feel in other territories of our lives. And this is exactly how Zlatin Orlov felt the first strong connection with jazz misuc: “I couldn’t feel jazz music touching me until, by chance, I listened to it once in complete darkness. And then a whole new world revealed itself to me – the world of light. When you listen to jazz music in the dark, you are free form the constraints of reality – and that is the moment when jazz shines in its full beauty.”
Once he discovered jazz music, Zlatin Orlov made it part of his life and art: “I have always been very impressed by jazz – streaming out from the non-verbal part of the mind of the musician. Jazz touches peculiar strings of the human consciousness – it is impossible to define it, to get ready for it. I hope for this uncanny communication between my works and their viewers.”
Jazz music leads the hand of the painter in the creation of these works, as Zlatin Orlov describes on Jazz FM. “When I flow in the complete freedom and harmony of jazz, my hand makes the strokes of the brush, not controlled by consciousness. I painted mostly by instinct. These works are not the result of heavy thought, but rather of the release of the feeling of freedom that had filled my spirit. This is freedom at its finest. Having put myself no limits in my work, I hand over this perception to the audience,” the artist said. And he is passionate for freedom in jazz: “Jazz musicians bring out the peace and order, and – sometimes – chaos, inherent in the Universe.”
Only a couple of years away from his debut, Zlatin Orlove is well-known in Bulgaria and abroad. He was among the six finalists of the MOST competition for contemporary art of the Modern Art Gallery in Sofia. He then presented his amazing kinetic sculptures – live with their forms and colours, reminding us to live fully driven by our imagination, telling us that everything so serious in life is actually a play. This October Zlatin Orlov had a sold-out exhibition at the European Commission and European Parliament headquarters in London.
