The Narrator of Stories on a Canvas | Hristo Gaberov
In a small and cozy atelier, with walls filled with stories, you can find Hristo Gaberov — the narrator of those stories. He is a painter from Kardzhali, Bulgaria and in an early morning on Friday, he is at his atelier to narrate his next story on the white canvas.
“You sit there to draw a painting, you have a white canvas, from which you have to give a message to people, to make them excited,” Gaberov said while looking at the blank canvas.
Gaberov looked around his atelier and said that every painting is a special one and has a message in it. He said that the last painting is always the best one, as an artist can include every skill and experience, he has gained so far. “In each painting, a part of myself is included,” Gaberov said with eyes on one of his masterpieces.
He took his brushes and the painting he is currently finishing and started making the final touches. The painting was a whole trip to Africa, introducing the viewer closer to the life of the Maasai people. Gaberov said that there should be a narrated story in the painting. One girl in the painting stands out from the others, as it is looking straight into the eyes of the viewer. While looking at his painting he shares how every single detail shows how exotic they are to our culture.
On Sep. 2, 1999, Gaberov and his friend Vladimir Sorokin took their bicycles and got ready for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure — traveling to Africa on a bicycle. Twenty-three countries, 300 days — the two travelers explored the world. “I went to do the voyage of my life,” said Gaberov as he moved his eyesight of the painting and looked to the camera with excitement.
Traveling a hundred kilometers per day, being surrounded by the wild and unknown this voyage was a great challenge for the travelers. “The voyage showed that with one hundred percent certainty there is God and he is carrying us the whole time and keeps us safe so that we can return home safe and sound,” Gaberov said still not looking at the painting.
“This is almost impossible to go through Africa with your bicycle without dying, there are a lot of hostile tribes, and wild animals,” Gaberov continued. “When I came back after this voyage, I felt like I have become 85 years old, I have collected impressions for ten lives,” Gaberov said with excitement and eyes full of appreciation.
This trip to Africa inspired him to create stories on the white canvas about Africa. “I was hunting for paintings,” Gaberov said with satisfaction. He shared that never before that he had a particular interest in Africa. “Once a person touches Africa, he can’t forget it,” Gaberov said while looking around his African journey he had created in his atelier.
He stands up and took another painting still unfinished of an African boy. He said that this is what he is currently working on. He took his structure paste which he likes to use to get closer to different objects from the real life and started putting it on the painting. “The outside world is a masterpiece of God, it is unbelievable, beautiful, and the painter should go out to get inspired,” Gaberov said.
“Until nowadays, I am still drawing about Africa,” Gaberov said while he put his brush down and gave a long look and the painting of the African boy. He said that Africa is a vast topic that can be seen in his atelier — every painting with a piece of Gaberov and most of them with a piece of Africa.
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Kristiana Dimitrova is studying Business Administration and Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Bulgaria. She is keen on reading, writing and traveling.
