Having attained degrees in both Art History and Classical Archeology, Iva Milanova’s academic training is reflected in paintings where mosaics and religious symbols are imbued with a dark sensuality offset by a refined receptivity to color. She utilizes portraiture to study the full gamut of emotions that can be expressed by the human face. Applying her talents to the venerable medium of oil on canvas, her perceptive artistry doesn’t shirk from representing troubling subjects. Old age, as it gnaws away at the features of a face, feature prominently in her work—especially in paintings where women are depicted with only lustreless black eyes emptied of sentience. However, there is a pervasive sacrality to her oeuvre, her subjects commanding a reverential stillness in the observer. “My goal is to be a knight in the vanishing spirituality of the world” Milanova says. Her paintings are her valiant warriors of light.

Milanova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria in a family of art lovers. She received a Top Influential Artist award at the 14th Beijing International Art Exhibition in 2011 and was featured in Contemporary Masters Volume V the same year. She has exhibited her work locally and internationally and is a member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Milanova lives and works in Berlin.