My paintings propose ideas and ways of imagining movable architecture. Temporary structures in transit set up new ways of perception and geometry. With shifting grounds and no solidity, the work continuously involves movement and adaptation and every layer becomes a reaction to the transformation of a physical and spatial encounter. 

Moving lands of uncertainty and precariousness emerge. Actions are open to improvisation and reconstruction. Gestures flow within open frames bouncing on and off of each other, going along each other, merging or falling apart. Clusters of adaptable architecture bump into actual barriers. Favelas, slopes and fluid corridors come close to the viewer and simultaneously create an obstructed perspective. The clash between depth and sculptural form, coming forward and layering onto one another, serves as a tool for engagement. Negotiation becomes the infrastructure. No arrangement is accidental. No order is fixed. Each bridge needs an extension. A hybrid structure, a moment of spontaneity or an ephemeral city shaped by vulnerability. 

Foreign Body is a series of paintings based on the situations and contradictions between bodies and structures in transit. These works are about adaptations, not quite fitting but being considered fit, perceiving a structure and not being able to surpass and cross over on the other side of it while still attempting to reshape the body to adapt and fight with landscapes and structural powers of oppression and disregard. 

The multiple layers within the paintings construct various viewpoints and cut outs- the feeling of being submerged and removed from the landscape at the same time. The canvas becomes the stage for performing vulnerability, separation, awkward encounters, obscured visibility and lack of clarity. The movable forms merge with dissident desire for resistance to demonstrate the constant fight with a world that moves forward too much on the basis of differences and conflicts rather than connectedness and collaboration. 

(b.1984, Sofia, Bulgaria) 

Education 

2012 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture School of Visual Arts, New York, MFA Fine Arts 

2009 School of Visual Arts, New York, BFA Fine Arts 

2007 Elisava Escola Superior de Disseny, Barcelona
Diploma in Design, Art and Society: Actions on Public Space 

2006 Istituto Europeo di Design, Rome, BA Illustration and Animation
2004 Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, Foundation Degree 

Selected Exhibitions 

2018 Recent Work: Foreign Bodies & Palaces of Sheds, Studio 510 – Artists Collective Exhibitions, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, curated by Zeljka Himbele 

2017 Places of Pleasure, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, curated by Stefka Tsaneva
MIS, 184 Project Space, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Donna Cleary

Foreign Bodies, Roger Smith Hotel, New York, curated by Danika Druttman
Prototype: 

In Motion, Societe Generale Expressbank, Sofia, curated by Studio Komplekt 

2016 SVA x Skowhegan, SVA Chelsea Galleries, curated by Lauren Haynes

Toys And Other Things That Make You Cry, ICA- Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia 

Borderless: In Perspective, Lite- Haus Galerie, Berlin, curated by David C. Terry 

2015  Process in Progress, Baeckerstrasse4 Gallery, Vienna, curated by Vessela Nozharova
Not Only To Believe In Magic But To Be A Proof of It, Variofocus, viennacontemporary fair, Vienna 

Mature and Angry, 21th Week of Contemporary Art, Art Today Association Center for Contemporary Art- The Ancient Bath, Plovdiv, curated by Boris Kostadinov 

Save The Dreams: Contempoary Bulgarian Artists In The Imago Mundi Collection, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, curated by Claudio Scorretti 

A Travelling Satellite, DISTRICT Kunst- und Kulturförderung, Berlin
Satellite Affects And Other Lines of Flight, DISTRICT Kunst- und Kulturförderung, Berlin, curated by Susanne Husse and Andrea Keppler

Alt/Process/ Safe In My Frame, Achter de Boom Gallery, New York

Human-Nature, Salon 659, Brooklyn, New York
Attachment Theory, 184 Project Space, Brooklyn, New York

Gazellig, Achter de Boom Gallery, New York

Dissident Desire, Chapter 3, DISTRICT Kunst- und Kulturförderung, Berlin

Face to Place, New York Foundation for the Arts, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Felicity Hogan To The Heart of A Woman, Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, NY hosted by Arosita gallery, Sofia 

2014 Movement of the Whole, INDA Galéria, Budapest, curated by Kamen Stoyanov

Disconsent, 20th Week of Contemporary Art, Art Today Association Center for Contemporary Art- The Ancient Bath, Plovdiv, curated by Iara Boubnova 

Expanded Objects for Shared Living: Dream Station, Box Office, BRIC, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Jenny Gerow 

There Is More Downstairs II, Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, New York, curated by Zeljk Himbele 

2013 Being: Younger than Storefront, Expanded Objects for Shared Living, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert and Carlos Mínguez Carrasco 

Dissident Desire, Chapter 1: Exercises of Critical Body Building, DISTRICT Kunst- und Kulturförderung, Berlin, curated by Susanne Husse and Lorenzo Sandoval 

Space Lab, 11th MitOst Festival, Leipzig, curated by Kristina Semenova and Olga Vostretsova Suspension, Artistdock, Postdamer Str 79, Berlin, curated by Arianna Plevisani and Serena Rota Footnotes, Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin, curated by Patrícia Rosas

Archive of A Moving Body, ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin 

Got Eyes, Encores! Musical Theater, New York City Center, New York, cuarted by Zeljka Blaksic 

Subterranean Echoes, ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin

Urban Prothesis, ParaArtFormations, K67_Urban Router, Berlin, curated by Miodrag Kuc

239 Days, Allegra LaViola Gallery, New York, curated by Stephen Maine 

2012 Movables, Frosch&Portmann Gallery, New York
Break/Step, Radiator Gallery, New York, curated by Eileen Jeng 

Who Left What Behind, Art Gallery ‘Iliya Beshkov’, Pleven (Exchange Project: Contemporary Female Artists from Bulgaria and Turkey) 

Time Geometry – Practices in Public Environment, Plovdiv History Museum, Plovdiv, curated by Bora Petkova and HR-Stamenov 

Pulse, The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, curated by Brian Whiteley and Pantelis Klonaris Object Not Found, Parlour No. 21, Venice, curated by Leslie Rosa
Every Once Sometimes Now, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, curated by Ron Segev 

2011 Report 23, Museum Giuseppe Scalvini, Desio, curated by Cristiano Plicato 

The Bulgarian Pavilion, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, curated by Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva 

The Proposal, General Consulate of Bulgaria, New York, curated by Stanislava Georgieva 

Unlimited, Award for Contemporary Bulgarian Art Mtel, Benchmark Business Center, Sofia 

You Can Have Your Void and Eat It Too, Two Moon Art House, New York 

Temporary Status: Bulgarian Artists in America, Immigrant Movement International, New York, curated by Daniela Kostova 

Shortlist 2011- nominated artists for Gaudenz B. Ruf Award, Rayko Aleksiev, Sofia, catalog Brutal Beauty, Para_SITE Gallery, Graz, curated by Stephan Wabl
Luoghi Diversi, Palazzo Terragni, Lissone, curated by Cristiano Plicato
Lumen: Video Art Festival, Staten Island, New York, curated by Ginger Shulick 

NY Temporary: The City Through Film and Video, Center of Photography and the Moving Image, New York, curated by Liam Davis and H. P.Garcia 

2010 Lost Horizon, ArtJail, New York, curated by David Gibson
MLAB Presents, Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, New York, curated by Natalia Mount 

Dwelling-in-Travel, 16th Week of Contemporary Art, Plovdiv, organized by Art Today Association, curated by Katia Anguelova and Andrea Wiarda, catalog 

Abstract Intentions, Westside Gallery, New York, curated by Keren Moscovitch SVA Alumni Selection, Palisades Park Public Library, New Jersey 

2009 Learning Curve, Marian Spore, Industry City, New York, curated by Michael Connor OFB: The Flatbush Derby, Brooklyn College, New York 

Avant-Guide to NYC: Discovering Absence, Apexart, New York, curarted by Sandra Skurvida Refashioning: Moda Мода, On Time Security Guard Training School, Bronx, New York, 

curated by Hatuey Ramos Fermín

Peep-O-Rama, Chashama AK-57 Gallery, New York, curated by El Celso

Sum of Nothing, Lumenhouse, Bushwick, New York, curated by Sarah O’Donoghue

Making It/ Selections from the 2008 NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, 60 Wall Street Gallery/ Deutsche Bank, New York, curated by Liz Christensen, catalog 

New Art/ New York, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, curated by Jeanne Siegel Process and Presence, SVA Main Gallery, New York, curated by Richard Brooks 

2008 Prime Time, Westside Gallery, New York, curated by Suzanne Anker and Tom Huhn 

Meetings, National Palace of Culture, Sofia 

2007 View Finder, Westside Gallery, New York, curated by Jutta Koether

Crossing Boundaries in Public Space, CCCB- Centre de Cultura Contemporània, Barcelona Cakewalk, Metafora- Centre d’Estudis d’Art i Artteràpia, Barcelona
Naked in Your Socks, Metafora- Centre d’Estudis d’Art i Artteràpia, Barcelona 

Awards, Honors and Fellowships 

2013 District Kunst- und Kulturförderung, Berlin, Studio Grant ZK/U Berlin- Center for Art and Urbanistics, Fellowship 

2011 Gaudenz B. Ruf Award, category Young Artist

2010 Charles G. Shaw Award, Brooklyn College, New York 

Special Merit Award, MFA Fine Arts Department, School of Visual Arts, New York 

2009 School of Visual Arts, New York, Travel Grant, ‘Art on Art’ Workshop, Venice Biennial 

2006 Apriti IED, Rome, Merit Award Best Short Film, ‘Metapostermorfosi’

2004 Central Saint Martins College of Art, London, Chairman’s Merit Award 

Residencies 

2016 MANA BSMT Residency, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, curated by Z Behl ESKFF: Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation Residency 

2014 BRIC Visual Artist Residency
2008 School of Visual Arts, New York, Public Art Residency

2007 Metafora- Centre d’Estudis d’Art i Artteràpia, Barcelona, International One-Year Residency 2006 International Summer Academy, Salzburg, Residency program

2005 School of Visual Arts, New York, Painting and Mixed Media Summer Residency