Practice

Artist Statement

I paint where the Atlantic meets the land, and where Irish light meets my Balkan instinct. My work moves between East and West, structure and spontaneity, realism and abstraction. The West gives me instability — light breaking, weather turning, land opening and closing. I paint that tension.

I paint intuitively and expressively, combining full-arm gestural brushwork with loose geometry to capture the immediacy of light, weather, and mood. Alla prima, fast and without revision, I allow the physicality of paint to remain open, honest, and immediate. Brushstrokes stay visible as the pulse of the moment itself. I paint the Irish spirit, but the Balkans drive the brush. The land shapes me; the roots push through.

EXHIBITIONS:

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

August 2026 — Western Light
Town Hall Theatre Gallery, Galway, Ireland

April / May 2026 — The Enlightened Land
Galway City Library, Galway, Ireland

February 2026 — Between Cold and Clear
Westside Library, Galway, Ireland

March 2025 — Pictures from Bulgaria
Embassy of Bulgaria in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

GROUP EXHIBITION:

Oct 2026 / Jan 2027 — Kenny’s Winter Exhibition
Kenny’s Gallery, Galway, Ireland

Nov 2026 / Jan 2027 — Outset Xmas Open (OXO 2026)
Outset Gallery, Galway, Ireland
Selected work: Menlo, Just After Winter, oil on canvas, 20 × 25 cm

Aug / Sept 2026 — Three Ways of Seeing
Kinvara Courthouse Gallery, Kinvara, Co. Galway, Ireland
Three-artist exhibition with Josephine Boland and Noelle Angley

June / Sept 2026 — Kenny’s Summer Exhibition
Kenny’s Gallery, Galway, Ireland

June 2026 — Ár dTeanga / Ár nDúchas
UachtarARTS Annual Members’ Exhibition, Oughterard Courthouse, Co. Galway, Ireland

May 2026 — Rhythms in Colour
Kinvara Area Visual Artists (KAVA), Kinvara Courthouse, Co. Galway, Ireland

April 2026 — Scenes from the Geopark
UachtarARTS, Oughterard Courthouse, Co. Galway, Ireland

Nov 2025 / Jan 2026 — Outset Xmas Open (OXO 2025)
Outset Gallery, Galway, Ireland
Selected work: The Beach, oil on canvas, 20 × 20 cm

Dec 2023 — International Charity Bazaar
Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Dublin, Ireland

Artist Bio

 

Vanya Savov is a Galway-based visual artist and clinical psychologist. Raised in the heart of Bulgaria’s Rose Valley, they studied sculpture and design from an early age before pursuing a career in psychology. Living in Galway for the past decade, their work brings a Balkan sensibility to a contemporary interpretation of the West of Ireland landscape.

Savov has held solo exhibitions in Galway and Dublin, and their work is held in public and private collections nationally and internationally. Since entering the West of Ireland art scene, they have established a notable artistic presence through a strong exhibition record. Their landscape paintings are characterised by a direct, assured handling of paint.