From October 30 to December 5, the gallery space of Fox Book Cafe will present Anima - the first solo exhibition by Stanislava Varbanova.
The exhibition consists of oil paintings of birds and mammals found in our lands. The canvases are in various formats, selected so as to suggest a realistic presence. In them, the animals are complete images with their inherent characteristics, mainly associated with the human portrait.
People often emphasize what distinguishes us from animals, consciously ignoring our common features. In our quest to prove superiority, we seem to have constantly tried to distance ourselves from nature - and even dominate it.
In the pictorial tradition, animals have often been placed at the service of human subjects - reduced to a corpse in a still life, prey in a hunting scene or a decorative companion in an aristocratic portrait. In Anima, the approach is different - the works explore the presence of the animal as a full-blooded image with its own dignity and emotions.
The raven and the vulture are presented outside of their imposed heavy symbolism, and the jackdaw and the jay remind us of the beauty in the ordinary - of the colors and vibrations that are often present around us, but remain unnoticed.
The exhibition affirms animals not as peripheral figures or convenient allegories, but as independent images. The title Anima - "soul" - is a reminder that animals also have their own inner world, but also that the "animal" in ourselves is not the opposite of the human, but its inherent part. Losing the connection with the outside, we also lose the connection with ourselves - with that primary foundation that created us.
Stanislava Varbanova was born in Varna, lives and works in Haskovo. Her works have participated in joint exhibitions and national biennials in the country. Anima is her solo debut – presented through a series of oil paintings. Alongside them, several animalistic illustrations will be exhibited, displayed as a separate accent in the space.
Opening: October 30, 2025, 7:00 PM
Place: Fox Book Cafe, 32 William Gladstone Street
Closing: December 5, 2025
Source: FB event
Add comment