INTRODUCTION by ARTIST Bella Volen

Hello dear Steemit World,
a short introduction of myself.

My name is Bella Volen, Vienna-based professional academic fine & visual artist. I work worldwide as an artist and art instructor.

My focus is mainly in canvas painting and human transformations through body painting, photography, and video. I also create murals, performance, installations, stage design, stage costumes and book illustrations. My world is colorful and different. I build also costumes made of painted balloons combined with LED light, a mix I called Paintloon.

Here you can have a look at my video reel.

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I work in following directions: painting, murals, photography, video, bodypainting, art commissions, performances, art for events, I also offer original art & limited prints prints.

The process of creating is often a gap in time. It is a magical loop hole, a happy peaceful place of the so called No Mind condition, a deep meditation, where your soul speaks, but the profane human self sleeps.

I think the essence of us humans is invisible and free. The invisible elements are many, but all very important. They are: the time, the spirit, the soul, the power from within, the power in everything (some call Baraka), the thoughts, the ideas, the goals, our hopes, our feelings, believe and faith, the courage, the bravery, the strength, persistence, stamina, love, trust, friendship. These are the elements I am mostly interested in.
There are also negative ones, but we don’t need to think, or talk about them.

Here two examples: The Spirit of The Moment

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ELECTRIC, a painting about those special moments when we meet someone new and feel a magical connection, as if one meets someone we know. but from the future.

In my work I try to catch the special moments of the present. The present itself is just the edge between past and future, and before we try to grasp it, it is gone.

The canvas painting is diving into eternity, into a dreamland. Bodypainting is an art form of the moment, a bridge between the most human tribal traditions and contemporary art.

"If asked
the nature of chanoyu (tea ceremony)
say it's the sound
of windblown pines
in a painting"

~Sen Sotan, (1578-1658)

This is what I am trying to create, paintings, which are alive. I am always working on the „windblown trees“ in my work.

A photo I took in China. I do practice tea as an important daily ritual.

The total work of art is my biggest passion, where all our senses are activated and different visual qualities, layers, sound, words, movement are melted in one. This is the reason why I create, not only canvas paintings, murals, bodypainting photography art prints, but also short videos, I call Visual Poems.

The following project is an example of a visual poem, a combination of my poetry and visual work. This one is a bit sad, it was inspired by my father and his sister, unfortunately I lost both of them, because of their alcohol addiction. Him in 2011 and my aunt two weeks ago.

A little gif from another visual poem Light From Within. A transformation from within, from the dark to a spring.

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Music has been a huge inspiration for me. In some of my works I combine canvas painting, painted human body & music instruments.

Coming from an established art family in Sofia, Bulgaria I started my professional art education when I was 12 years old.
I had 13 years of art educations and hold a MA in painting. It has been almost 23 years of painting and 13 years of body painting. I will be 35 years old in December, a stubborn, passionate, smiling Capricorn/Lion.

Being just an artist it has never been enough for me. I want to give something in return too. Therefor I also teach painting, drawing, color theory, design & composition, bodypainting, body art history, and business & mindset for artist.

Every major society has had at least one body art tradition. There are so many ways to be human, and many different views of beauty. Sometimes, the marks of identity can be disturbing to others, but they have a very deep meaning.
How many unknown traditions are waiting to be discovered, or presented to a bigger audience? The human civilization has been always dreaming to reach the stars, but we are not even aware of all the cultural treasures still hiding on our planet. Many of these magical traditions are disappearing. A few are already extinct. Some are beautiful, some otherworldly, others scary, but they all are inherently human cultural heritage. They are a very important part of our story in terms of art history, gender studies, ritual culture, social development, world view, even understanding of time and space. They need to be kept alive at the very least through preserving documentation.
In the last 12 years I have traveled the world and been researching all these old tribal traditions, rite of passage rituals. I hope to be able to put them as soon as possible in a book.

Private information: I am vegan, love nature, science, books, museums, old cultures and have a deep connection with different Asian philosophy traditions and countries.

I painted this commission garuda mural for a martial art academy in Vienna

On my website you can find also a lot of photos from different countries and a big photo collection of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas.

One of my big loves is augmented reality. I am working with an app called Artivive. When you look at my canvas paintings, post cards, limited edition art prints through the app they get alive.

Here an example from a theater production: Romeo & Juliet with professional actors, dancers and performers with handycap.

Here you can see PAINTLOON, where balloon art meets paint. A visual direction created by me.

A work a created for a fashion calender.

One of many costumes created for a show in a shopping mall in Thailand.

Here how it works, an example form canvas painting & bodypainting for a project in China.
I most paint prima vista- free hand.

As a final touch one of my latest videos.

Many more coming up soon here in steemit. Thank you for your time.
Love & light
Bella

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Here you can find more about my art: http://www.bella-volen.com