Urban Inspiration Meets Geometric Prisms: Valentin Yordanov

World-traveler, painter and sculptor, Las Vegas-living-ex-pat, and unapologetic mind-bender Valentin Yordanov has created Parallel Infinity, a monumental mural outside of Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart in AREA15. It’s a trip from every angle.

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“The Spine” at AREA15, a long stretch of wall inside the new experience mall, is home to a few murals, large-scale installations, and the entryway to Omega Mart. One of those murals is by Yordanov. He set out to create a brand new world on a flat surface using interconnected shapes and spaces accented with UV reactive paint. And while Parallel Infinity, at 2200 sq. ft., is Yordanov’s largest project to date, his work is always tipping on the giant scale. 

The canvas sizes he prefers – which he shapes and stretches himself – range between 60ft x 40ft and 72ft x 60ft. He pulls inspiration from the magnitude of city lights, streets, skyscrapers, the inner workings of the breaths that cities collectively take, and channels that breath into his medium. The proportions of his work are nothing short of immersive. 

“I feel like my art is about exploring, about journey, about changing the environment you're in and creating your own environment. Presenting the world in a different way,” says Yordanov. “You have the base picture of the city, the environment, the people, the noises.” 

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Every color on the spectrum was used for Parallel Infinity. At its size, the observer can get lost in following the geometric arrangements of certain color patterns. The arrangements are only broken by new, contrasting lines that weave in and out of each other like a basket. Or like a pedestrian walkway. 

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“I want to bring some positivity, happiness, joy when they see it,” Yordanov says of Parallel Infinity. 

Having traveled and shown in galleries all over the world, his admiration for city life is palpable through his colorful, geometric paintings. The Bulgarian native was educated in Romania, trained in Austria, and exhibited in Korea – the well-traveled Yordanov knows a thing or two about harnessing the power of experience into his works.

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Valentin said he was working on a show in Greece when he got the call about creating the mural for Meow Wolf in Las Vegas, where he has lived for the past ten years. “It's not as static as if you'd have just a painting on the wall or you're in the museum.” He says the concept for Parallel Infinity took roughly two weeks to fully draft. 

The versatility of his large-scale conceptualized sculptures and paintings transcend the boundaries of where a viewer might pigeonhole where art “belongs.” He has had a painting hung in his adopted home city’s Las Vegas City Library and has worked with the City of Las Vegas’ Contemporary Art Project to create two 7ft x 6ft aluminum sculptures.  

His mural took 30 gallons of paint and three weeks straight of 12 hour days to complete. For Yordanov, it was a labor of love. His affinity for creating spaces where “the guest is part of the art installation” came through tenfold. 

AREA15 opens September 17th and is by free reserved tickets only (to comply with social distancing), after which Yordanov’s mural can be experienced in person. Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart opens early 2021. 

Follow Valentin Yordanov on Instagram.

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