(b Burgas, 28 Feb 1946). Bulgarian printmaker and painter. In 1973 he graduated in printmaking from the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademia Sztuk Pieknych) in Warsaw. His works, especially his prints, are filled with symbols and visual metaphors that relate to themes from Bulgaria’s cultural and historic heritage. There are elements of the grotesque and the phantasmagoric, as well as paradox and irony, in his oils and acrylic paintings (e.g. Idol, 1985; Sofia, N.A.G.). Tzanev prefers to employ a variety of techniques in printmaking, favouring soft-ground etching and aquatint (Embrace, 1982; e.g. Sofia, C.A.G.), colour lithography and mixed media. As a printmaker he has exhibited in various biennales of graphic art, including the International Biennale of Graphic Art in Kraków and one in Heidelberg. In 1987 he won the Grand Prix at Intergraphic in Berlin.