Nova Magica
14.01. – 07.02.2025
Bulgary Art Gallery, Sofia
Bulgary Art Gallery, Sofia
The Urban Environment – A New Magic
On the occasion of Slav Nedev’s exhibition at the Bulgari Gallery
The urban landscapes that have captivated the artist Slav Nedev in recent years remind me that art is not only a passion but also a discipline. A view that was fully carried through into the work of the recently departed Dimitar Buyukliyski – Michi, who stood out with his bright and inimitable style. The paintings by Slav Nedev exhibited at the Bulgari Gallery include the cycles Post-urban visions and Relationships, and works such as Museum, Woman Reading, Levitation, On the Edge, Jump, Blue City, And the Wind Blew and others, made between 2007–2024.
I remember the artist’s early canvases, which struck with their half-empty, depopulated spaces and indefinite exteriors. In them, if a human figure appeared, it was depersonalized, presented as a silhouette, and nature was either absent, or if it was included in the compositions, it was cultivated and in dissonance with the cold, frozen architectural objects. The laconic compositions were also matched by a precise color scheme, corresponding to the certain melancholicity in his paintings that required contemplation and reflection.
Another thing that was very characteristic of Slav Nedev, and developed in the following years, was alienation, which, with the imposed silence in his paintings, naturally raised the question of the search for peace outside the chaos of reality. It was this environment specific to his painting that reminded me of the art of Italian functionalism and rationalism between the two world wars and, in particular, of the group of architects from the 1930s, united around the "Group 7" movement and MIAR, supporters of functional architecture outside the mannered decorativism of the late Secession with its most prominent representative Angelo Mazzoni (the author of the Siena train station).
I would include Slav Nedev's urban painting, which is unique in our country, but relevant and modern for Europe, in the trend in art that was emerging at the beginning of the 21st century, also represented by the Polish artist Maya Kesner. However, Slav Nedev's art fits into it primarily through his attitude towards his rejection of the real architectural environment, i.e., from its mimesis, and from the attempt, in unison with digital innovations, to penetrate, above all, into its inner image and spirit. It is no coincidence that the buildings in his paintings from recent years seem to be emptied of living objects, due to their impersonal, silhouetted presentation. In this sense, the spaces seem uninhabited, the reality in them unreal, time stopped, awaiting the appearance of the person and humanity lost in it.
A strange but fascinating exhibition, symptomatic of human transformation. An exhibition that speaks not only with the elegant and refined pictorial language, with elements of neoclassicism, but also with the messages that stand behind it. An exhibition behind the apparent silence and tranquility of which is hidden a charge of anxiety and provocation. In fact, the timely and original painting of Slav Nedev is a kind of reflection on the new magic of the changing urban environment and its inhabitants.
Prof. Aksinia Djurova
16.12.2024
On the occasion of Slav Nedev’s exhibition at the Bulgari Gallery
The urban landscapes that have captivated the artist Slav Nedev in recent years remind me that art is not only a passion but also a discipline. A view that was fully carried through into the work of the recently departed Dimitar Buyukliyski – Michi, who stood out with his bright and inimitable style. The paintings by Slav Nedev exhibited at the Bulgari Gallery include the cycles Post-urban visions and Relationships, and works such as Museum, Woman Reading, Levitation, On the Edge, Jump, Blue City, And the Wind Blew and others, made between 2007–2024.
I remember the artist’s early canvases, which struck with their half-empty, depopulated spaces and indefinite exteriors. In them, if a human figure appeared, it was depersonalized, presented as a silhouette, and nature was either absent, or if it was included in the compositions, it was cultivated and in dissonance with the cold, frozen architectural objects. The laconic compositions were also matched by a precise color scheme, corresponding to the certain melancholicity in his paintings that required contemplation and reflection.
Another thing that was very characteristic of Slav Nedev, and developed in the following years, was alienation, which, with the imposed silence in his paintings, naturally raised the question of the search for peace outside the chaos of reality. It was this environment specific to his painting that reminded me of the art of Italian functionalism and rationalism between the two world wars and, in particular, of the group of architects from the 1930s, united around the "Group 7" movement and MIAR, supporters of functional architecture outside the mannered decorativism of the late Secession with its most prominent representative Angelo Mazzoni (the author of the Siena train station).
I would include Slav Nedev's urban painting, which is unique in our country, but relevant and modern for Europe, in the trend in art that was emerging at the beginning of the 21st century, also represented by the Polish artist Maya Kesner. However, Slav Nedev's art fits into it primarily through his attitude towards his rejection of the real architectural environment, i.e., from its mimesis, and from the attempt, in unison with digital innovations, to penetrate, above all, into its inner image and spirit. It is no coincidence that the buildings in his paintings from recent years seem to be emptied of living objects, due to their impersonal, silhouetted presentation. In this sense, the spaces seem uninhabited, the reality in them unreal, time stopped, awaiting the appearance of the person and humanity lost in it.
A strange but fascinating exhibition, symptomatic of human transformation. An exhibition that speaks not only with the elegant and refined pictorial language, with elements of neoclassicism, but also with the messages that stand behind it. An exhibition behind the apparent silence and tranquility of which is hidden a charge of anxiety and provocation. In fact, the timely and original painting of Slav Nedev is a kind of reflection on the new magic of the changing urban environment and its inhabitants.
Prof. Aksinia Djurova
16.12.2024
