Penko Gelev

Dora Gabe is a classic Bulgarian poet from the last century. Even by the late 1920s, her poems were known by heart by parents and children alike; they were published in textbooks and anthologies, and songs were written about them. She also had her favourite illustrators, the most famous of whom was the Bulgarian classic Iliya Beshkov. This selection of her poems, illustrated by Penko Gelev, was published a century later. The artist’s hand has travelled tens of kilometres over the blank page, his talent and vast experience in various genres allowing him to paint literally anything with ease. He repeats the classic model from her first editions, composing small drawings around the poems. The characters and plots originate in the text – dogs, cats, goats, a girl feeding chickens, children playing hide and seek, a boy jumping into a puddle. To a large extent, these are scenes from the lives of children from other times. And although these drawings were created digitally, their essence is analogue – drawing with ink and brush. The artist’s quick mind and knowledge of the world of children can be felt in them, and this is why the images are universal.