The most dramatic, beautiful, and largest art installation ever seen in this city, Kiril Jeliazkov’s The Orange Step in Forsyth Park resembles the encampment of medieval knights, with some of their banners arranged in formation, others as solitary outposts, still others in small groupings. Looking from the south they guard the main artery, then branch off into smaller paths north around the fountain and through the trees and shrubs.

As fleeting as autumn leaves they appeared in late October and are gone by Oct. 30.

Each of the 128 paintings, on vinyl sheets 20 feet high by 10 feet wide, carries Jeliazkov’s signature, an orange footprint, symbolic, he says, of the steps he has taken in his journey through many art forms in many cities and countries of the world in search of himself and his own unique vision.

At least some of the vision is this intermingling of the art found in nature, and the art which spills onto canvas from the soul of the artist. And it is that co-mingling that takes my breath away as I meander the pathways of Savannah’s greatest park, and the work that blends into it as though it forever belonged here.

The 30 year old artist, a former SCAD student, comes originally from Bulgaria, where after high school he was accepted into the Academy of Arts in Sofia, then won a full presidential scholarship to SCAD. To make ends meet, he began painting down by the riverfront, doing representational work at first, portraits and riverscapes, landscapes and cityscapes.

During his years at SCAD, he went to Africa, where he painted for 40 non-stop days, and a few years later to Turkey, where he again produced an amazing quantity and quality of work. Later, in New York he achieved considerable acclaim, his own studio and international attention.

Success was not enough. Jeliazkov wanted freedom for his art and for himself. And he wanted to return to Savannah. He also wanted to veer away from the confines of studios and galleries and walls, and use the great outdoors as his venue. He wanted freedom from the constraints of realism or any kind of representational art. He wanted his work to reach to the skies.

His first, The Orange Step installation of contemporary abstract work, was exhibited in the public gardens of Yambol, Bulgaria, last year. Then, backed by Alex Grikitis, CEO of Grikitis Group, and his wife, Maggie Grikitis, who brought in the Historic Savannah Foundation, The Orange Step opened in Forsyth Park, here in the city he had come to think of as home.

Gazing skyward at paintings that tower four times my height, I can only wonder what his next steps will be. The thought comes unbidden: will this fine young artist one day long to be free of the shackles of gravity? Might he be the first artist to work in outer space? –- Cima Star, Oct. 2007