Sabbi Gavrailov is a Bulgarian self-taught portrait artist who works in the UK and is commissioned for his exquisite classic art style. He originates from the town of Brezovo, which is also the birthplace of two iconic Bulgarian artists: Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, who died in 1976 and Mincho Katsaroff, an artist celebrated in France but virtually unknown in his home country.
Sabbi relates to Zlatyu Boyadzhiev through his great-grandfather, Zlatyu’s close cousin. There are striking similarities between the landscape and portrait painting styles of Sabbi Gavrailov and Zlatyu Boyadzhiev. In his early days, Sabbi took lessons in the atelier of another contemporary artist from the Plovdiv region, Geno Lazarov.
Sabbi graduated from the Vocational School of Architecture and Geodesy in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1996. In 2003 he settled in the UK and later acquired a Professional Diploma in Digital Photography. A fascination with digital photography over the past decade has helped to encourage his love of travel photography and his favourite subject, Portraiture. Despite always wanting to become an artist one day, the opportunity had never really presented itself until the loss of his father when a creative outpouring of emotion unleashed his talent.
Sabbi actively participates in Hertfordshire's art communities, exhibits at local events and galleries, and participates in national and international art competitions. His portraits have won the “Visitors Choice Award” at the Harpenden Art Club Annual exhibitions for two consecutive years, 2021/22.
In 2023 Sabbi added four accolades to his professional achievements when he was awarded a Talent Prize, for Portraiture and Figurative Art by Teravarna Art Gallery Internationally Juried Competition from LA, California.
Although he works and exhibits in the UK, in 2023 Sabbi is invited by the prestigious Gallery and Art Museum Dimitar Georgiev in Plovdiv, Bulgaria to present a solo exhibition. Sabbi makes his debut in the Bulgarian art scene with a themed solo exhibition called "Roots" which he curates and dedicates to commemorate the 120th Anniversary of the birth of the Great Bulgarian Painter and his distant relative Zlatyu Boyadzhiev. Sabbi presents a strong selection of Oil Portraits, Still-Life, and Landscape art which had a great success. Later in the same year, he was invited to present the exhibition “Roots” again in his hometown of Brezovo, Bulgaria.
His paintings are in private and public collections worldwide including, in Europe, the Middle East, and South America.