ANTONIA'S STORY
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Canadian painter Antonia Theo, is a classically trained artist, who prefers to say that she is self-taught as it has taken her years of living to develop her constantly evolving craft.
She received her academic art training in the atelier of Dimitar Rangachev, a prominent Bulgarian artist and pedagogue. With a Master’s degree in engineering and a lifetime of working in different areas of expertise she was able to achieve success and immerse herself in diverse cultures.
Her Slavic roots are visible in her canvases along with her world of feminine faces and beautiful adaptations. The freedom with which her brush strokes are used on the canvas moves the viewer to a place of affluent memories and beautiful experiences.
Noted for her still life paintings and portraits in luscious oils, with her art Antonia offers variations of emotions and colours deeply rooted in her life.
The complicated existence of women in our modern society has always inspired a certain esthetic in me. My preferred medium has always been oil but I don’t like to limit myself. I get inspiration from the female form and how it’s described in the medieval literature of the “Dolce Stilnovo”, between 1280 and 1310. It is the image of the so called, “Angel Woman”, from which the poets draw inspiration. However, the women that I portray in my work are not an act of seduction towards the male gender, but rather a personal reading of each woman, as such.
