Lika Yanko

Lika Yanko (born Evangeliya Grabova, March 19, 1928 – June 22, 2001) was a Bulgarian artist, known for her experimental canvases, often inlaid with beads, buttons, nuts, and other materials. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts under Prof. Dechko Uzunov and Prof. Iliya Petrov, but refused her diploma due to disagreement with the assessment of socialist realism. Her first solo exhibition was in 1967, but her real recognition came in 1981 with an invitation from Lyudmila Zhivkova. During her life, she held 7 exhibitions and donated 82 canvases to the Sofia City Art Gallery. She received the Sofia Prize in 1989. The color white predominates in her works as a symbol of the divine. She died of pneumonia in Sofia.