site.btaBulgarian Artist Depicts US Presidents of 19th-21st Centuries

Bulgarian artist Rosen Raychev, based in the US, has created three large canvas paintings depicting all US presidents that have served from the 19th through the 21st century. In over 800 portraits rendered with photographic precision over the course of 23 years, the artist, who goes by the artistic name Rossin, presents influential contemporary personalities, the BG Voice news outlet said.

Raychev was born on March 23, 1964, to a librarian mother and an electrician father. He found his passion to paint portraits at a very young age and has been indulging in it for 56 years now. He was particularly drawn to figures of the Bulgarian National Revival from his home city of Ruse (Northeast Bulgaria).

At the age of nine, he came across painter Kiril Stanchev, who ran a private school for prospective students aiming to get admitted to the Academy of Art. He started taking classes and quickly advanced. Eventually, he was among the first accepted to the Academy, where he studied painting. It was there that he gained experience in photorealistic portrait painting.

Raychev graduated from the Academy of Art in 1990. His artwork drew the attention of a Japanese dealer, who visited Sofia the same year. The artist spent the next five years working in Japan. "There, I painted 150 portraits, toured the country, and learned how to manage my art," he recalled.

Raychev has had solo exhibitions in France, England, Germany, and Belgium. In 2001, he moved to the US following an invitation he received from artist manager Karen Hudson.

He settled in Atlanta and was commissioned to paint portraits by university presidents, judges, and company leaders.

In the first decade of the 21st century, he created the American Royalty collection, which includes portraits of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, and baseball legend Babe Ruth.

Raychev painted a portrait of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, another one of all 23 US presidents of the 19th century, as well as a portrait of the first three presidents of the 21st century.

The Bulgarian artist had four of his paintings put up at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, located near the White House. They depict Morgan Freeman, American poet Maya Angelou, baseball legend Hank Aaron, and Andrew Young, a close confidant of Martin Luther King and US ambassador to the United Nations, whose Geneva headquarters hosted Raychev's exhibition in 2016.