Simona Ruscheva
I had the chance to catch up with London-based oil painter Simona Ruscheva this month. She shares her passion for her Bulgarian culture and her spiritual beliefs that help inform her beautiful paintings.
Can You Really See, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
Share a bit about your background and how you came to be an artist.
Since I was a child, I have loved drawing and painting, but on another hand, I also loved math. I went to a mathematical high school and it was at that point that I actually decided I wanted to continue with art instead of math. I started taking art lessons. I was doing graffiti, I was participating in exhibitions in my hometown, and I was pretty much drawing all of the time.
I studied Fine art painting in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. After graduating, I moved to London and have been living and working here since.
What ideas do you explore in your work?
Eclipse, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
I am very interested in mythology, esotericism and spirituality, and how we present and express our inner universe through visual language. One of the main ideas I explore is finding our very essence of who we are and the source we all come from. This I consider to be my ultimate idea, which can be looked at and explored in multiple ways. Mythology and ancient history is one of the knowledge bases that I use through the prism of my own background. I also like digging into symbolism and how that is reflected in different cultures and preserved through time, and is yet very much valid today.
I also want to show how rich and powerful our culture is, directly using visual elements from it. I like to fuse two seemingly different ideas into one to create a deeper level of understanding and appreciation of our heritage, and show how important that is to the formation of who we are as people.
I have a favourite quote from Terry Pratchett that really summarizes the above - “If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”
Tell me about your process.
A work usually starts with a sketch of the initial idea. I have accumulated a huge amount of images online with patterns, costumes, rugs, pottery, and many other things I find inspiring, all surrounding the same topic. I have a lot of books, albums and catalogues on the subjects that interest me and it is usually through reading that I gather ideas. I also collect national costumes and jewellery, which I use for taking reference photos.
Depending on the initial idea I had, I may use source images or take my own photos for reference. Occasionally I don’t use any reference at all. These are more spontaneous works.
Some are the rituals that inspire me are directly from my personal experience and what I have witnessed, some are stories I have heard or read about, some are quite mundane, used in everyday life, while some are quite shamanic and mystical in nature.
How many paintings are you working on at any time?
I always have at least two paintings that I work on simultaneously, usually more. I find it much easier to switch focus between multiple works than to focus only on one. It is also easier to unify them as they have very similar energy while being painted at the same time. Also as I get closer to the end of a work, I stare at it much more than I paint, so switching to another one gives me a fresh look and clears the way to go forward.
Spirited Away, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
Puh, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
Your work centres around Bulgarian folklore and heritage. Can you elaborate on some of the common motifs in your work such as masks and threads?
Tonka, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
The mask for me is a symbol of something obscure, a hidden knowledge. At the same time, it is the archetype representation of our own social system and beliefs. It is one of the most interesting and complex symbols that has been explored in so many cultures through the ages, including in modern day. What I find really interesting is the physical and psychological transformation of the masked person, who stops being a human and becomes the masked creature. I also like to play with the idea of opposites, putting a human mask on a masked creature, which is another aspect of the idea of the mask itself – the masks we all wear every day in society.
The threads motif is firstly reminiscent of the process of weaving and embroidering, which is something I use widely in my works. I then think of it as the thread of life, which is inside all of us and is more of the energy running through our physical bodies. I see it as a very light pink in colour, which gathers in a core centre at the solar split. For me the thread is a representation of the idea of “weaving ourselves”, meaning we are constantly creating ourselves through our actions and experiences, building up on the existing, similar to a way that a rug is weaved.
An example of both the above motifs I have in my work “Spirited away”
Can you share a bit about your own spiritual practices?
I used to meditate, especially while I was pregnant, but since I had my son, I haven’t had much free time to continue. I do, however, find painting to have a very meditative effect sometimes. It is very immersive, calming and sometimes even profound if I can get “in the zone”.
Eclipse 2, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
One of the things I love about your work is the bold colours, patterns, and the figurative together. How has your work evolved over the years?
My work has evolved a lot through the years. It used to be very expressive, somewhat abstract, always with the big brush. The subjects were also very different, however I have always worked with figurative elements and bold colours. I started using patterns recently and it was one of the biggest changes in my work visually. I recently started painting on the side of the canvas, which somehow continues and completes the work in a new way. Looking back to past works, I still have favourites, even from 10 years ago, but I have learned to let go and embrace the change and evolution each new work brings.
Inside, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
Face Off, oil painting by Simona Ruscheva
You can follow Simona on Instagram @simonaruscheva.