Jordan Ivanov

(Bulgarian, b. 1967)

Formally trained in his native Bulgaria, Jordan Ivanov holds a master’s degree from the National Academy of Art in Sofia. He emigrated to New Orleans in 1999 and quickly became a fixture on the New Orleans art scene, exhibiting frequently through the 2000s at Simone Stern, Galerie Lafitte in the French Quarter, and Duque Art Center.

His paintings and sculptures have been shown in over 40 solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and in Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain, Belgium and France. His murals and sculptures are on display in public spaces, including in New Orleans and Chicago.

In addition to solo and group shows in the U.S. and in Europe, Ivanov worked for over twenty years at Kern Studios where he designed and built thousands of Mardi Gras floats through the decades for the krewes of Allah, Bacchus, Cleopatra, Endymion, Hermes, Iris, Momus, Muses, Orpheus, Tucks, Zulu and others.

Jordan’s fluency in a range of materials and methods compels him to create unique artworks. He freely mixes mediums to push the boundaries of what material, form and negative space can give him.

Jordan’s work moves between flow and restraint, between the known and the unknown. Pigments bloom, pool, and recede across built surfaces; textural layers cast real shadows alongside painted ones. His sculptures pursue many of the same questions in three dimensions. Spare, calligraphic ribbons of wood or steel hover between tension and rest, their sinuous gestures contrasting with rough industrial surfaces or highlighted by color and pattern. Negative space becomes as active as the material surrounding it.

Works made years apart therefore feel less like separate chapters than points along the same continuing investigation. A painting from 2015 can speak directly to one from 2025 because Ivanov’s true subject has always been the exploration itself, a lifelong pursuit of moments holding the mystery of what might happen next.

“The results,” he says, “are not always completely within my control… and I like that.”