Marin Gruev is from Bulgaria. He mostly makes custom bookplates (also known as Ex-Libris) and small graphics. My personal favourite in this genre, which is why I picked his works to start my blog with. He is a true master of his craft and his attention to detail is most likely unprecedented in the field. Like most artists will list in the future, Marin Gruev works in traditional techniques like etching, mezzotint and dry point.
I am not great with words or interpreting art but every time I see this work I feel like I am gazing into someone’s dream, looking through the small window that this etching represents.
This is a more recent work. 13 years after “Walks in a Dream”, you can see that the creative juices haven’t stopped flowing. The theme here is Alice in Wonderland, and this is another incredible visualization of the famous novel and characters by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (under the pen-name Lewis Carroll).
While still feeling like a modern piece of art, it also keeps the classic feel of the illustrations from decades ago. Once again, the details are stunning and one can only fully appreciate them if viewing this artwork with a magnifying glass.
I will surely include more of his works in the future, for now I am aiming to make a post here every 2 weeks or so, depending on how much free time I have. But if anyone wants to look for more of Marin Gruev’s graphics and ex-librises, they can do so here: Marin Gruev – small graphics, ex-libris
Graphic Art Gallery / Bookplates 