By Sarah Kinkade
Arlington, MA – “Monsters, ghost stories, horror movies and dreams have fascinated me since childhood and now serve as reference points,” said Boriana Kantcheva, whose “Likely Stories” exhibit has recently opened at 13FOREST Gallery in Arlington. The show features paintings that fuse people and animals and is inspired by fairy tales and folklore of Eastern Europe.
Despite the common theme throughout her collection, every painting is unique and especially eye-catching. The different uses of color and subject matter guarantees that the spectator will have plenty to look at. What is truly fascinating about her work is the amount of detail that goes into each piece; the more one looks at her paintings, the more detail is discovered, but the painting never becomes overwhelming.
Working primarily with gouache, an opaque watercolor paint, Boriana uses immensely tiny brushstrokes to help give her paintings a realistic quality that is difficult to match. This combination of reality and fantasy truly makes her work exceptionally memorable.
(“Likely Stories” is on display through February 20 at 13FOREST Gallery, 167A Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, Mass. For more information, call (781) 641-3333.)