Gergana Nikolova — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 5

May 5 Gergana Nikolova

Biography

Born in 1991 in Isperih, Bulgaria
Lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria
Education:
2014 - 2016 - Master of Fine Arts, National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 - 2014 – Bachelor of Arts in Painting, National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
Solo Exhibitions:
2020 - "SCHEIN",Gallery-bookstore "Sofia Press", Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 – "12 000 Moons Patience",Gallery "Debut", Sofia, Bulgaria
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2021 - Online Exhibition I Infinite Dreams by Contemporary Art Curator Magazine - 1 February- 1 June 2021
2021 – "KROMATIC@RT "Exhibition, M.A.D.S. Gallery, Milan, Italy
2020 – "PORTRAIT" - General exhibition of "Painting" and "Sculpture" sections, UBA, Gallery of UBA "Shipka 6", Sofia, Bulgaria
2019 - "No "I", No "Have", No "Being"", Accademia Gallery of NAA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 - "The Reality Dispute",Exhibition hall "Raiko Aleksiev", Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 – "Landscape",Gallery of UBA "Shipka 6", Sofia, Bulgaria
2016 – "Still-Life & Interior",Gallery of UBA "Shipka 6", Sofia, Bulgaria
2016 - TRANSFORM 2016: Transformation of Image, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
Art Fairs:
2018 -ARTMUC Art Fair / May 10 – 13, 2018, Isarforum, Munich, Germany

Artist Statement

My painting style is mainly driven by emotions. I like to extract philosophical ideas from books and seek to transfer impressions from music. I also play the piano and, naturally, music is very important to me. I am painting with acrylics, which I combine with structure pasts, vanish or pigments, and I am also working with multiple layers. The experiment is crucially important to me and takes a central part in the work process. I am constantly in search of a change in my work and mindset. The series "Schein" started as an experiment. While I was visiting my twin brother in Munich, I found the German philosophy magazine "Hohe Luft". There was an article about the fake news - "Im Schein liegt die Wahrheit". The following made a great impression on me: "The term "Schein" was already known to the ancient Greeks; they associated it with radiance, prestige and fame, as well as with becoming visible and displaying oneself. On the one hand the term corresponds to revealing oneself, on the other hand it refers to false elusive shine which shifts the true reality. The ancient Greeks associated "Schein" with "becoming" and "fading", with instability and fleetingness.".

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

I have been drawing since a very early age. What I really loved doing was papier-mâché figures. But it was never really a dream for me to become an artist. My mother and my elder brother can also paint, but they never had the desire to continue exploring their talents. As a kid I also played the piano with my twin brother for seven years and therefore music is also very important to me. In the first years of high school, I forgot my love of art and creating. At this point of time my mother gave me Irving Stone’s book about Michelangelo “The Agony and the Ecstasy”. After reading it, I felt really inspired and I started drawing lessons. I wanted to become a sculptor. This was the moment that prompted me to think of becoming an artist, and also the thought that neither my mother, nor my brother developed fully their talents. It felt almost like a duty to become an artist. Later I changed my mind about the sculpture, because I was more driven to the painting. Maybe at some point I’ll make sculptures again.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

For me the change is very important. I don’t like to do the same thing all over again. I like to explore new themes, feelings and objects in my artwork. In my opinion there is no ultimate truth and therefore also no ultimate becoming. I would like to see myself as an artist who is always changing and learning. One, who is surprising the viewers and herself by becoming different and better.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

Portraits were always a favourite theme for me. Earlier it was important to me to express the feeling and the nature of a person as correctly as possible, so the viewer can feel it as well. I strived to be very precise in making psychological portraits. Then I started to explore new and unknown themes. All paintings from the series “Schein” are self-portraits or portraits of family members and friends. They are more abstract than realistic and personally for me the new approach is that I am not attempting to tell something particular with them. I would like to provoke the viewer’s imagination to see something beyond the image.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

Sometimes I get an idea from books or from something that I have seen. Then I start to think how to express it visually. Important step for me is to choose music that resonates with the feeling of the painting in order to maintain and provoke the creative process. The technique that I’m using is greatly influenced by the classical examples – I’m following exact stages and I’m working with multiple layers. For several years I have been painting with oil and then I have decided to try with acrylic. I am combining the acrylic with structure pasts, pigments and vanish, in order to achieve different effects. When I start a new painting, I try to enliven and enrich it with emotions. After a while, the different elements start to develop their own logic and in its own way, the painting is showing me how to continue. I don’t think that the artwork has a particular ending. For me it is just that at some point I do not see any more how to continue and the emotional connection between me and the painting is gone. At that moment I know I need to stop, because everything I do after this point looks wrong. After I “left” a painting I don’t work on it anymore for exactly this reason.

What is your favourite part of the creative process?

I am very emotional and sometimes I get extreme in my reactions. When I am painting something really interesting and important to me, I become very obsessed with the process. In these cases there is always a point when I don’t know how to continue and I get very upset. After some time thinking I found a resolution. My favourite part of the creative process is exactly this one – on the verge of total despair suddenly this bright new idea is striking your mind and you become exalted. Like in the book “The Agony and the Ecstasy”.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

At this moment I really don’t have any ongoing projects. After working on something for a long time, I need time to find new inspirations and themes, to recharge. The series “Schein” took me a little over a year and it was a very strong experience to create it. Now I’m working on some small ideas, but nothing big. I want to do something completely different – to change the technique that I am using and to find new unexplored themes. Doing so, my desire is to evolve into a different version of myself as an artist.

Website http://gergananikolova.com/

Instagram https://instagram.com/gergana.r.n/

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