Atanas Karpeles was born in Varna, Bulgaria, a small country on the Balkan Peninsula, the battle place of Orpheus. Through his father and a happy childhood, he was exposed to the elevating spirit of ancient Bulgarian Isixasm and the ideas of the famous Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy. His mother, a gifted craftswoman, made colorful tapestries, kilims and kozlaks. The musical sound of the kaval, bagpipes, zurla colorful folklore dresses, horo and the sendenki all influenced him, arousing his future love for color and art.

He earned his master’s degree in fine art from the Sofia Academy of Fine Arts in Bulgaria in 1979. In 1984, Atanas immigrated to the United States. For many years he worked as an art director for the print company Sublimation Design Inc. in Los Angeles. He also worked as a layout artist for Film Roman Inc. in Hollywood and for DreamWorks in Glendale, Calif.

Atanas is an award-winning artist with 40 years’ experience. His paintings and mixed-media art can be found in numerous museums and in government, corporate and private collections around the world, including Bulgaria, Greece, Sweden, Mexico, Korea, Japan and the United States. His unique canvases are “battery-charged” with color, energy and spiritual vibrations.