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Park
Artists |
Copyright 2004-2006 Zina Saunders All rights reserved |
 Guergui,
age 56, studied classical painting at the National Academy in
Sofia, Bulgaria. He's been in the U.S. for five years, and though
he loves his adopted country, he misses his sons back home in
Bulgaria.How I started here in the park, I hear from people that the artist people work in Central Park, so I came here. So, I don't know nobody to find some other job. I came from London to here. There, I did oil paint murals, in churches and in schools. I was there for 5 years. I come here most every day...well, for example, for two or three days there will be rain, so I don't come. But otherwise I come every day. This is just to make some money. I like to work my job, which is mural painting. I haven't made any murals here, I don't know how to connect with the people. I mean, I go to Brooklyn and then I come here, I don't meet any of the people to get the jobs doing murals. They don't know I do murals, maybe because I don't show examples. Maybe if I had examples here on display, maybe somebody would like to make murals. I started drawing when I was maybe eight years old. But I didn't know I would be an artist. I wanted to be an actor. Everybody in those days wanted to be an actor. Children like to be actors, they see them in movies. It takes me about a half hour to do a portrait. It doesn't matter to me if they're young or old or pretty or not. So many people I draw in my life...it's just my job! America is the best country. It is 50, a hundred years ahead of Europe. Here, when you go from State to State, people are all on the same level. In Europe, some people are very poor and some people are very rich: there is a big difference between what people have. For me, America is the best! But it's hard for me, my sons aren't here, and I miss them. My odler son is in Amsterdam, and my younger son is in Bulgaria. He's a good artist, he's very talented, but in Bulgaria there are too many artists and not enough jobs.
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