Svetozar Kolev - Pitkin was born on 28th of June 1970 in the city of Gabrovo. In 1983 he won the II prize (Silver Medal) at the International Youth Competition in Shankar, India. In 1989 he graduated from the National High School of Plastic Arts and Design “Academician Dechko Uzunov” in the medieval town of Kazanlak. He works in the field of classical painting, but he is most popular for his surrealistic drawings, inspired by his travels, friends and a lot of rock and jazz music. Artworks by Svetozar Kolev - Pitkin are included in different private collections in Bulgaria and abroad. Since September 2021, he has been part of our team playing the role of an artist - musician with a flair for surreal visualizations of brass (and string) instruments. Is there more? Let’s find out …

In the creative world of Pitkin the drawings, paintings and rock music live together in a bright harmony. How has all this happened and what kind of transformation it leads to? 
I’m trying to search for harmony between the tones - no matter if they are musical, graphical or painted ones. When I play the guitar I’m trying to draw too. 

What in the art of sound can inspire surrealism drawings like yours?
I've been playing in rock bands since high school. And more or less since then I like Surrealist artists. So it’s natural that a lot of my drawings are musical - surrealistic ones. 

Tell us more about your composite brass drawings - we can see trumpets, french horns, saxophones and trombones. How can they be combined with a train, truck, lamps, sea creatures or a mountain goat?
The copper wind instruments have a lot of details and interesting forms so they are very suitable for combinations with a lot of very different, unexpected subjects. 

What is the hidden story behind the Balkan Jazz series of drawings?
Well, Balkan Jazz sounds like an American rachenitsa. Maybe for someone that sounds ludicrous, but there are no any frontiers in music, in my opinion.  

You created the main artwork on the cover of our album Christmas Brass and Vocal Jazz - that glorious trombone Christmas tree. Tell us more about how that musical artwork was born - the main vision of a music that reached hundreds of thousands of listeners?
I wanted to find the best symbol of the Christmas holidays. What can be better than the Christmas tree? But my choice was to decorate it with a trombone and microphone while I was listening to the beautiful music you created. Furthermore, by this artwork we (I mean not only me but you and the musicians who made the arrangements of the medieval songs) express our understanding of Scandinavian colours, Nature and even their interior design concept.

You are among the colleagues in our team who have an emotional and professional bond with the lowlands and especially with the Netherlands. I confess that my only bond with this part of Europe is through the artworks of Jan van Eyck and Vermeer.
For a person who has dedicated his whole life to painting and music, this is a magnificent feeling. It’s like to be yourself all the time, anytime, with all your heart. I graduated from the National High School of Plastic Arts and Design “Academician Dechko Uzunov” and ever since high school the Dutch painting’s Golden Age is my favourite. For me Rembrand is the King of Light. The artworks of the Still lifes painters such as Frans Snyders, Willem Claeszoon Heda, Willem Kalf or Pieter Claesz are the most cozy and warm paintings I have ever seen.  

The New 2022 is still in its very beginning. What do you think it will be? What are your expectations and perhaps your dreams for the next 2 or 3 years?
Well, I’m absolutely sure that 2022 will be better than the previous two years. I hope in the next few years I will be able to create the main visions for a lot of new wonderful music albums!