Stigmata Kicks

acrylic and sanguine on canvas

Size: 40 x 40 cm, Anton Terziev, 2023

Courtesy of the artist
Photo: © the artist

Part of No Time For Losers series of drawings, paintings and objects (2019-)
Title credit: Svetoslav Todorov - editor, writer, correspondent. Collaborating since 2019

Photo credit: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE
10 December 2015; Paige VanZant, right, in action against Rose Namajunas during their strawweight bout. UFC Fight Night: VanZant v Namajunas, The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, USA

Anton Terziev’s “Stigmata Kicks,” part of the “No Time For Losers” series, is a riveting black-and-white acrylic work that blurs the line between the intensity of sport and the violence of a battlefield. Through a close-up view of two female MMA fighters, the artist confronts viewers with a scene that radiates raw physicality and psychological tension. The thick, expressive brushstrokes and stark monochromatic palette heighten the sense of drama, turning each blow into a symbolic struggle that resonates far beyond a mere athletic event.

Beyond its immediate visceral impact, the painting offers a broader social commentary. It casts athletes as both performers and unwitting mirrors of a society steeped in the spectacle of blood and brutality. This cinematic expectation places an enormous burden on the fighters, who are glorified in moments of peak performance, yet all too swiftly discarded when their prowess fades. In this unrelenting theater of violence, athletes bear the weight of public expectation—a burden that transforms them into both celebrated figures and tragic victims, exploited for entertainment and then cast aside like refuse.

Terziev’s mastery of tonal contrast and distorted forms intensifies this effect, ultimately inviting viewers to reflect on how thin the boundary between sport and combat can become when examined under the unflinching light of art, and how society’s insatiable appetite for spectacle dehumanizes those who dare to engage in its violent drama.