Museum, 2022

Slav Nedev  

1967 Born in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Since 2012 Founding Member & President, Biotope Assn., Sofia, Bulgaria;
Since 2001 Member of Union of the Bulgarian Artists, Sofia, Bulgaria;
Since 1989 Freelance Artist.

Artist Statement

The most essential thing about a visual work of art is actually invisible.

To me a work of art is a kind of dream, a matter, which in its silent vagueness conveys what sometimes clear conceptual thinking cannot communicate and is otherwise inexpressible. Paradoxically the most important think in a visual work of art – its spirit – is actually invisible, yet we could perceive it instantly if it's there.
I always need to get involved emotionally and mentally with a subject in order to start exploring it through the means of art. Usually such involvement results in a series of works that often evolve through the years.
However the things I am interested in are the idea, the principle, the type, and the relationships, most of all the relationship between man and his surroundings, hence my focus on the architecture and other urban phenomena as well as on topographic maps as documents of interaction between man and nature. The subject of these explorations could be resumed in the following questions: Where are we? How do we interact with our surroundings? What is the result of this interaction?

In this sense, even when I work with concrete objects, I am an abstract artist, as far as “to abstract" (according to C.G.Jung) means to remove or subsume concrete details with the purpose of reaching a more general idea.

Education:

Self-taught

Awards & Distinctions:

2019 Second Prize. Competition for a Work in Public Space for Rosarium Park, Kazanlak, Bulgaria
2017 First Prize. Competition for a Work in Public Space for Rosarium Park, Kazanlak, Bulgaria
2016 Grant for Production of Artworks, Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for New Bulgarian Art
Grant (as a curator) for Organizing a Group Exhibition, Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for New Bulgarian Art
2012 Certificate of Honor, Nepal Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Kathmandu, Nepal
2011 Residency at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Bavaria, Germany
2009 Residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2006 Audience Award, National Competition H. Schmincke & Co., Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Certificate of Honor, Small Forms Biennial, Pleven 2006, Pleven, Bulgaria
2002 Certificate of Honor, Small Forms Biennial, Pleven 2002, Pleven, Bulgaria

Exhibitions:

Works in Public Space
2018 Rose Flower (a permanent sculpture), Rosarium Park, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

Curated Exhibitions (acting as a curator)
2019 C (Carbon), Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2016 topos - topographies - ...topias, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (See Projects section)

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 Objects, Arosita Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 Paintings, Zehentstadel Art Space, Beratzhausen, Germany
2016 Water Prints, Artur Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 Biotope, Sofia Press Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 Images from Nowhere, Agrion Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2006 Remains, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 Elements, Rakursi Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2003 Creation, Kozhuharovi Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Between Two Dreams, Triadiss Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1999 Works on Paper, Dritta Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1995 Selected Works, Vitosha Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1992 Selected Works, Palace of Culture, Vratsa, Bulgaria


Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 C (Carbon), Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 Paper Time, Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Ilindentsi. An Art Zone, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 7th Beijing International Art Biennale "The Silk Road and World Civilizations", Beijing, China
Bistrichki, Valchev, Nedev, Stubel Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2016 PaySage, The Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
????? - topographies - ...topias, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (Catalog)
2015 Map of the New Art, Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy
2014 Snap to Grid, LACDA (The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art), Los Angeles, USA
What Happened?, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
To Be Continued… (Gaudenz B. Ruf Collection), Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
The Untold Abstraction, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 Open Monument, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
Hospital for Lovers, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 Earth | Body | Mind, KIAF 2012, Metropark, Kathmandu, Nepal
Magnet & Antimagnet, ICA Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Chances, Choices, Changes, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria (Catalog)
Communications, VIVACOM Art Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 Urban Zone, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2009 Reality & Fiction, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
T-A-P-E INVITES at Made in Arnhem 2009, Arnhem, Netherlands
Environmental Justice, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008 Uninhibited Contacts, Argos Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Short Distance, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
August in Art Biennial for Contemporary Art, Varna, Bulgaria
2007 Traffic, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Cultural Identity, Sofia Press Gallery, Sofia / Alexey von Schlippe Gallery, Groton, CT, USA
Balance, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2006 The Body, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 Personal Mythologies, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2003 Water Media, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
10 Years Izkustvo/Art in Bulgaria Magazine, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia
Five Bulgarian Artists, Bulgarian Embassy, Copenhagen, Denmark
2002 Bulgarian Painting after 1989, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Young Bulgarian Artists, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
1996 Spiritual Messages (Series of Yearly Shows that lasted until 2001), Vitosha Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1993 New Names 2, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria