Zoran Malinovski dreamed of being an artist like Leonardo da Vinci since he was five years old.
When he was a teenager, he would climb the local hill in his village in Macedonia and gaze down at the river. He would ponder how it moved so smoothly.
“I was sleeping with books from Leonardo da Vinci, I was dreaming to be like Leonardo,” said Malinovski, who now works from his studio in Maple Ridge.
He wanted his own drawings to emulate the smoothness and power of his favourite artist.
Malinovski will be presenting a solo exhibition at the ACT Art Gallery, a combination of coloured pencil drawings and mixed media.
The exhibition is called An Open Nature, referring to Malinovski’s sensitivity to nature in all its dimensions, including both visible and invisible elements.
“I feel like there is something symbolized [in nature]. Not only what we can see, because our limitations of what we are seeing is not everything outside in the nature,” said Malinovski.
Malinovski has two faculty degrees for art and has learned techniques used in ancient Roman times and the Byzantine Empire.
His use of the gold leaf technique is described as delicate and precise.
“Before, in the old time like the Byzantine times, when they paint icons, they use those type of gold leafs,” he said, explaining that he learned this technique by spending summers in the Macedonian capital of Skopje doing restorations of icons, frescos and mosaics from antique times.
Malinovski’s work has been in exhibitions around the world including Eastern Europe, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and in Canada.
He was also featured in an international exhibition in Macedonia, where he represented Canada.
“It was nice for me to represent Canada because I am originally from Macedonia, but I live here. My life is here and I am a Canadian citizen,” said Malinovski.
His favourite subjects include botanical scenes, birds and domesticated animals.
There will be more than 25 recent pieces by the artist in the exhibition.
An Open Nature runs from Jan. 14 to Mar. 4 at the ACT Art Gallery, at 11944 Haney Place, downtown Maple Ridge.
The exhibition will be open during regular gallery hours.
The opening reception takes place from 2-4 p.m. on Jan. 14. Admission is free.
Malinovski will be giving a talk on the exhibition and his artistic practise in general at 1 p.m. on Jan. 21 and he will also be at the gallery talking about his work and answering questions at 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 3, part of the ACT Centre’s ALT Fest pre-show program.• For more information, go to http://www.theactmapleridge.org/.