Digital Arts & New Media
About Atelier Angel Karagiozov
Established in 1999 by visionary artist Angel Karagiozov, the eponymous Atelier Angel Karagiozov reimagines the heritage of the Old Masters' workshops for the digital age. It serves as a laboratory for artistic inquiry where the foundational principles of art and the innovative potential of technology converge. The studio was founded with the primary objective of conducting rigorous research and development into digital approaches. Our mission is to investigate and advance the use of CG and other digital processes within a fine-art context, pioneering new methodologies for the contemporary image. The central philosophy of the studio is the principle of coherence. We deliberately bridge the gap between classical techniques and emerging technologies, ensuring that innovation is guided by the enduring wisdom of art history. This disciplined approach allows us to create work that is both technologically advanced and conceptually grounded. Through this synthesis of artistic heritage and forward-thinking practice, Atelier Angel Karagiozov contributes to the evolution of contemporary art, demonstrating the profound potential of an integrated artistic vision.
The Early Days
I can't remember when I first started painting — it began even before I could express myself in words. Growing up surrounded by my father's artwork, I was naturally drawn to visual expression as my primary language of creativity. As a child, I was content spending hours drawing and painting rather than playing games or sports with my peers. My parents nurtured this passion, and by age six, I held my first solo exhibition at our neighborhood elementary school. During school, I filled my notebooks with sketches to transform boring classroom moments into creative opportunities. I continued my artistic education at our city's Art High School, though the conservative, traditional training didn't fully align with my vision. My heart was always with experimental, free-form work. When I realized the conventional path toward Bulgaria's National Academy of Arts wasn't right for me, I looked abroad for opportunities that would better support my artistic development. In autumn 1997, I took the entrance exam at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, beginning my studies there in early 1998. This experience broadened my understanding of design and applied arts significantly. I later spent a year in Paris as a student at ENSAPC. Since 2007, I've been living and working in Varna, my hometown, where I continue to explore digital painting as my chosen medium for creative expression.
The Digital Canvas: A Brief History
The story of digital art begins not in a studio, but in the scientific labs of the late-1950s. During this pioneering era, artists and engineers experimented with massive, complex computers to explore the aesthetic possibilities of algorithms, generating electronic patterns captured through photography. Through the 1960s and 70s, these explorations blossomed into a nascent art movement. Access to computers was still largely limited to academic and scientific institutions, but a dedicated community of artists emerged, collaborating with scientists or building their own custom hardware. This period was characterized by a move towards conceptual art, with landmark exhibitions like London's "Cybernetic Serendipity" in 1968 showcasing the potential of computer-generated graphics and interactive installations to a wider audience. A major breakthrough for working artists occurred in 1981 with the Quantel Paintbox. This revolutionary workstation allowed for painting directly onto a digital canvas with a pressure-sensitive stylus, but its prohibitive cost kept it mainly in the realm of high-end television production. As personal computers gained traction, new software appeared. In 1986, an application called Macintosh Calligraphy was designed in Japan, offering a digital ink brush experience. Then, in 1990, the official release of Photoshop marked a pivotal moment, giving artists a powerful tool for image manipulation that would define the look of 90s computer graphics. This was followed in 1991 by Painter, the first software designed to realistically simulate traditional painting techniques. The 1990s witnessed the first true explosion of computer art, a perfect storm fueled by more affordable personal computers and the dawn of the internet, which created a global stage for this new work.
My own first true meeting with digital art happened right in the midst of this explosion, in the early 90s, before the internet had reached my home. My city, Varna, hosted an exhibition called "Design in America." I first encountered a computer being used to create art. I was certainly aware of computer graphics; I had watched the movie Tron on VHS and was addicted to our home video system, and I had been mesmerized by the first realistic CGI animal, the the owl in the opening sequence of the 1986 movie "Labyrinth" , which I saw at the cinema. But at the exhibition, watching someone use a computer for serious artistic work, seeing the actual process, was different. There was a long line of people eager to try their hand at this new technology, and I waited patiently for my turn. When I finally sat down, I was immediately struck by how difficult it was to draw with a mouse. The result was a clumsy, unsatisfying doodle. But then, I saw the printout. In that moment, seeing my simple digital creation made tangible, I realized I was looking at a revolutionary new way of making art. A seed was planted – a wish that one day I would have my own computer to create my own digital prints. It was a fleeting teenager dream that I soon forgot. A wish was born: to one day have my own computer and make my own CG prints. This was, of course, a momentary childhood wish that I later forgot. My own journey as a digital artist truly began years later, in 1998. As a student at Die Angewandte, the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, my childhood dream was unexpectedly reawakened. The university provided free access to Power Macintosh G3 computers, and suddenly the tools were right in front of me. I had the chance to finally begin. Even then, as I started to explore this world, it felt like digital art was still in its infancy, a thrilling new frontier full of promise.
The Evolution of Technology
The mastery of any artwork, whether traditional or digital, is inseparable from the sophistication of the instruments used to create it. In the traditional sphere, the material excellence of the medium—the quality of the pigment in the paint, the fine-point of the brush, the grain of the paper—is instrumental to the creative process.This principle extends directly to the digital realm, where the caliber of the technology is directly reflected in the final work. When I began my digital art practice in 1998, the tools we used were considered state-of-the-art, yet by today's standards, they seem as primitive as Stone Age tools.The first true breakthrough was the advent of the pressure-sensitive stylus, an innovation that became an essential prerequisite for any serious digital artist. Subsequent advancements, such as tilt and rotation sensitivity, further bridged the gap by emulating the nuanced behavior of traditional media. For me, a pivotal moment occurred in late 2017 upon adopting the first-generation iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. This began my definitive transition to a natively digital process. This technology initiated a fundamental shift towards a natively digital, from initial concept to final execution. The acquisition of a Wacom Cintiq 27QHDT solidified this transition, completely replacing the reliance on physical media with a comprehensive digital workflow founded on pixels, vectors, and polygons. This instrument remains central to my practice today, enabling a seamless and deeply engaging creative process.
AI: Assistant and Collaborator
Around the year 2018, with the public emergence of Machine Learning, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), and later, the appearance of diffusion probabilistic models, integrating these generative technologies became a natural extension of the studio's core mission. The studio's creative methodology underwent a significant and coherent evolution. These algorithms became our silent collaborators, infusing our work with unexpected beauty. We have fully embraced a workflow that incorporates AI image generation as a creative tool. It is our conviction that artistic expression extends beyond manual skill to encompass conceptualization and discernment. The ability to curate and refine visual elements demands a profound understanding of art history and philosophy, cultivated through years of dedicated practice. At the soul of our creative process lies the spirit of experimentation. We believe that true creativity thrives on the fringes of convention, challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. Art, in our view, is a powerful tool for nonconformity, a sanctuary of freedom within the human experience. Recognizing the immense potential of digital art in the late 90's, we embraced its inherent experimental nature. While early digital painting was a technical challenge, akin to photomontage and collage, advancements in software have bridged the gap between the digital and physical realms. Today, digital tools empower artists to seamlessly translate their visions, regardless of their background in traditional media. The digital medium further liberates artistic expression by transcending the limitations imposed by physical materials and real-world constraints. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, a new era of creative collaboration has dawned. Artists now have the opportunity to partner with intelligent machines, resulting in extraordinary visual symphonies that defy categorization. Atelier Angel Karagiozov is more than just a workshop - it's a haven for artistic exploration. We champion the harmonious interplay of human creativity and artificial intelligence, believing that this synergistic relationship yields unparalleled results.
11 May 2024