Albena Hristova
Albena was born in a family of artists and received 12 years of classical art training in Europe. She started painting when she was only four years old. Shortly after graduation Albena created several large murals. Albena’s first solo art show was in 1987.
During her time in Europe, Albena participated every year at Art Basel - the most prestigious modern art show in the world. Corporate and private collectors bought all her art before every show opening. In 1990 Albena moved to Southern California with her family.
During the first few years in the USA Albena had several solo shows at the Michael Stone Collection Gallery in Washington, DC, Lori Kay Gallery at the Disney Hilton in Anaheim, multiple times at Art Expo in Las Vegas and in New York, Nelly Angel Gallery in Chicago.
During this period she had great success selling her originals to private collectors and institutions, but she also realized her outreach was limited by the nature of the originals business. Albena’s vision and ambition was to touch as many people as it was possible in her lifetime.
She needed a different channel to realize her dreams. In 2000, Albena discovered the world of art publishing. In New York, she met the owners of a wonderful company called Wild Apple Graphics and as they say the rest is history.
Albena had instant success in the art publishing business. Over the last 15 years she has created over thousand images that have sold millions of prints on all possible media across all five continents. You already may have seen her paintings in Nordstrom, Macy’s JC Penny’s, Aaron Brothers, Cost Plus, Pier One and many other furniture and accessories chains and retailers.
The wide appeal of Albena’s artistic sensibilities has also lead to many licensing contracts with many different home décor companies, including seven wildly successful signature wallpaper collections. You can find many different articles with her images in Bed, Bath and Beyond, Kirklands, Harrods in London, eBay, Amazon and many other national and local retailers.
Albena artistic interest have taken her to many different subject matters and styles from the classical and traditional to the expressionist and abstract; from florals and architectural themes to canyons and minerals. Albena’s has developed a unique style that can be easily recognized across her large body of work.
Albena lives in Orange County with her husband. They travel around the globe collecting experiences and expressions for her to bring back on canvas to you.
Albena has been painting all her life; it is what she does. For her everything starts with seeing. Nothing rings more true to her than “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. She feel s that her mission is to help you open your eyes and your imagination to all the beauty around us. Your hectic life might make it hard to see it at first, but is it so wonderful when you finally do. She is here to help you see it through a new set of eyes.
'This pursuit is a never ending process. I surprise myself to find new things in unexpected places. This is how my journey with the Faces of the Earth began. I started seeing beautiful faces on rocks, ice, water, sky and trees; it was all around me. And there was so much emotion in this realization and so much desire to ask people around me “Have you seen this? Do you understand what happens when you get really close to a ‘Face’ and let your imagination run wild?”' - Albena Hristova
This happens to her every day. She can't wait to get up in the morning and start painting all these new Faces. Albena´s studio is getting filled with something that she have never done before: give herself over to the pure emotion of her visual connection to the Faces of the Earth. It is a journey with no boundaries in texture, form or color. It is a free dance of her imagination in the nooks and crannies of Mother Earth and its infinite elements.
There is a spiritual dimension to Faces of the Earth. In our world driven by numbers, results and outcomes we have drawn a line between Nature and Humans. We have forgotten our origins and our Mother Nature. Faces of the Earth has the intent to bring us all together in the acknowledgment of our common origin and our common moral obligation to take good care of Mother Earth. Looking at the Faces of our Mother Earth should evoke the faces of own human mothers and should make us all better stewards of our common heritage. At least this is my dream.
Albena wants her viewers to come along with her and challenge their ability to make their own discoveries in these close encounters with the Mother Earth.
Albena’s original artwork is represented by Luminarte Gallery in Dallas, Texas.
