Zombit: The Anthems
Do you know the feeling that when you hear a song, it brings back memories of a certain time or place? As a music lover, I have this all the time. When I hear a song, I remember listening to it when I was creating particular art works. In my mind’s eye, I can vividly see myself cutting a stencil or spray painting a surface for a project. Certain songs take me right back to that great vibe of creation. It’s like time traveling. Now, make sure to follow the Zombit the Anthems playlist on Spotify so I can take you with me on that journey. Show me your best dance moves when rocking out to these awesome Zombit Anthems!
Raise the curtains, because Here She Comes again and again! For the 2017 Pop Icons Vinyl wall at the Sutherland Global office in Bulgaria, I brought a newly painted vinyl record with me every time I entered the office. Each vinyl is an artistic interpretation of a characteristic icon of pop culture at large. I turned the biggest idols from the big screen into colorful art, such as Star Wars’ Yoda, Gremlins’ Gizmo, The Shining’s Jack, Alien’s Xenomorph, and Stranger Things’ Eleven. It must be pointed out that this office is the hub of the Spotify project, so on the other hand, the music stars Sing it Back: Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Beyonce, Snoop Dogg, The Misfits, Slayer’s Kerry King, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, and last but certainly not least, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. If this wall of fame with all those shining stars doesn’t leave you Dazed, then what does?
That Spotify office at Sutherland Global yearned for more stencil graffiti art in 2019. It felt like the King of Pain almost had the better of me when I had to make a selection of the most shining stars of pop history. These pillar paintings would become pretty big, so I chose to honor the late Chester Bennington of the legendary nu metal band Linkin Park, the enigmatic pop wizard David Bowie, the awe-inspiring Freddie Mercury of Queen, the OG hip hop sensation Snoop Dogg, and Another Love of mine, Sia. The amazing people at the office can now enjoy working for Spotify in an even more musical environment, so we can rightly say: Feed Your Head, heart and soul with these immortal stars!
Next is a trip to the outermost regions of the known universe by getting Lost in time and space. We’re talking about the huge Cosmonauts mural in the heart of Sofia. It was such a joy to create this piece of art. It didn’t take long for the light Bulbform to appear to me: it would be great to honor the first two Bulgarian astronauts in space, Georgi Ivanov and Aleksandar Aleksandrov. With this mural it Feels Like We Only Go Backwards in time more than 40 years, when launching people into space was still very novel and even futuristic. The both of them are a true Spaceman as Georgi and Aleksandar went where pretty much no one had gone before. Due to their heroism, Bulgaria is the 6th space country in the world. When visiting Sofia, make sure to go to Tsar Simeon street on your own or by attending the Sofia Graffiti Tour to enjoy this massive homage to the Bulgarian cosmonauts.
Whether from Varna, Plovdiv, Shumen or Sofia, all of Bulgaria is united under the personification of their nation, Sveta Sofia. On the spot where in Communist times there once was a statue of Lenin, an impressive statue of the goddess and saint of wisdom was erected in 2000. I painted this national symbol, together with the skyline of Sofia and traditional Bulgarian embroidery on the huge wall at the internal reception of the Sutherland office in 2021. It isn’t only stencil and freehand graffiti: saint Sofia herself is pixel art to the max. The goddess was spray painted pixel by pixel. The magic of it is that the full portrait only became clearly visible after the last pixels were added. It took a lot of patience from the start, almost to the extent to Make Me Wanna Die. We painted at the office for weekends on end, from early mornings until way After Dark. The lyrics of the great traditional Bulgarian song Чичовите Конье perfectly describes the process of this graffiti mural: “Be patient, be patient, be patient my love.” Painting with patience and love I did, and I can’t be more thrilled with the end result!
Check out all of the art projects mentioned in this post here. Do you want to stay with all those good vibes of creating art while listening to amazing tunes? Here’s the Zombit the Anthems Spotify Playlist for everyone to enjoy!
