MIYAKO YOSHINAGA is pleased to present the solo exhibition entitled Between Four Mountains by

Yana Dimitrova (b.1983), a New York-based, Bulgarian-born painter and mixed-media artist. This is the

artist’s third solo presentation at the gallery and the inaugural exhibition at its new Upper East Side location

(24 East 64th Street). The exhibition will run from November 22 to December 21, 2019. An artist

reception will be held on Friday, November 22nd from 6pm to 8pm.

Yana Dimitrova is a classically trained painter informed by contemporary theory and practice. Her work

explores the interplay between artist, subject and viewer. For Dimitrova, her work is a conduit of her life as an

immigrant and an artist – ideas around arriving and leaving behind, family and culture. Painting is a universal

voice that can empower human experience and provide a sense of universality. “I hope to build onto the

capacity of painting as a social medium, whilst creating a platform for interpersonal and collective agency.”

Dimitrova’s work is a heady mix of vibrant colors and exuberant brushstrokes that create palpable emotion.

The viewer is swept up in her consciousness and reminisces alongside her despite not having been physically

present at inception. The large canvas painting titled “A Remembered Imagined Landscape” portrays a lush

riverbank and sprawling mountain ranges – a landscape full of memory and motifs – with a barely perceptible

human face in the distance, instilling a sensory familiarity. “Map of Love and Suffering”, a gouache painting

functioning as a tapestry prototype, is inspired by conversations with a fellow immigrant and Bulgarian folk

singer. The theme mirrors experiences of Dimitrova’s own parents and grandparents. Another large painting,

“Parallel Portrait 1” is an affectionate and ubiquitous portrayal of shopkeepers in the community that have

welcomed her in. She depicts imagined and remembered places and people, some of whom no longer exist,

based on visual recollections as well as simple verbal descriptions told by others.

For Between Four Mountains , Dimitrova spent time with her family, friends and neighbors in Bulgaria

and her current base in Brooklyn, conversing, enquiring and connecting. The work conveys a sense of place

and people described lovingly and longingly. By including fragments of stories and the emotional charge of

conversations exchanged, Dimitrova weaves together the multi-faceted complexity of human memory and

incorporate themes of struggle, empowerment and interpersonal relationships. Between Four Mountains

transforms the gallery into a community space, where painterly dialogues unite people and build alliances,

and exist as unique social tools for storytelling.

Yana Dimitrova studied painting and printmaking, achieving both her BFA and MFA from Savannah

College of Art and Design. She is currently conducting an international practice-lead PhD research at LUCA

School of Arts in Brussels/Ghent, Belgium with focus on painting as a medium of empowerment. She has

shown at various national and international venues such as The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (New

York), Aronson Gallery (New York), Walke (Brussels, Belgium), OAZO (Amsterdam), Gallery Twenty-Four

(Berlin, Germany), NXNW (Manchester, UK), Sofia City Gallery Museum and Credo Bonum (Sofia, Bulgaria),

Field Projects, Flux Factory, NARS Foundation, and Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery (New York). Her work is in the

collection of Republic of Bulgaria Ministry of Culture Fund, Sofia City Gallery Museum National Art Fund, The

Rockefeller Brothers Fund, SCAD Museum, Paula and Glen Wallace collection, and numerous international

private collections. Dimitrova is currently a part-time professor at Parsons The New School for Design in New

York City.