With a passion for art history, Macedonian painter, Irena Gapkovska, takes inspiration from the Byzantine tradition of icon painting.

Bursting with emotion, feeling and movement, she combines classical anatomical studies with her love of colour and form, to capture the beauty of a fleeting moment in time.

The artist

Irena Gapkovska has lived and worked all over the world. She had a successful studio in her adopted home of Miami and still runs a busy studio in her native home of Skopje, Macedonia.

Now living in the P-O, she also has a studio in central Perpignan which is open to visitors by appointment. As well as producing her own art, she teaches up and coming talent and has trained over 400 students, many of whom are now successful, professional artists.

Gapkovska’s works are sensual and emotive, celebrating the joy of human movement by combining precise anatomical drawings with expressive, spontaneous strokes of colour. Inspired heavily by nature, the seasons and the cycle of life, she redefines the spiritual Byzantine tradition with her unique, modern approach.

INVITATION

Irena Gapkovska

VISAGE et INTERIORITÉ

Opening: Tuesday 17th December at 6.30pm

Come and visit the exhibition from 13th to 25th December at the Café Vienne, Pl. François Arago, Perpignan

The artist says…

“As a Macedonian artist, I am inspired by the Byzantine influence. My works are usually rather surreal and emphasize the human form in a symbolic way. Employing the aesthetics of ancient Macedonian art to express the spirituality of the subject, I create a bridge between abstract and figurative realities, merging them in an authentic way with an intuitive approach to make a unique visual story of symbolic expression.”