Nedko Solakov

To mark “A Group Show,” his debut at this gallery, Sofia-based artist Nedko Solakov decided to review his own practice, bringing together such disparate projects that viewers might think this is, indeed, what the exhibition’s title suggests. However, a handwritten wall text at the entrance of the gallery explains that Solakov is just echoing the way his output was perceived at the beginning of his career by curators and critics, who struggled to classify him. The missive’s initial words are suggestive: SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A CONTAINER-CREATURE THAT UNIFIES AND SEPARATES DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES (ARTIST A, ARTIST B, ARTIST C . . . ). This sentiment comes alive with the juxtaposition of two magnificent pieces, The Deal, 2002, and Seasons & Genres, Genres & Seasons, 2007. In the former—a video that documents an action staged in Herning, Denmark—a local administrator exchanges a bill of one thousand Danish kroner for US dollars and back again, until the money is depleted by bank commissions. The latter is an ironic eight-part panel depicting the four classical art genres as the four seasons, and vice versa. For example, spring is symbolized as a female nude—a woman’s torso seen from behind, painted in a rough manner—and is captioned A FEMALE NUDE WITH A SPRING ALLERGY PROBLEM (EXECUTED IN QUITE A VAGUE MANNER AS THE MIDDLE-AGED ARTIST’S WIFE WOULDN’T LET HIM USE A LIVE MODEL). The other works on view, from the magic stories told in delicate drawings populated by his typical anthropomorphic figures, to a scratched sheet of red aluminum titled What I always wanted to do on a Ferrari, but never dared to (and the colour kind of died), 2007, further illustrate Solakov’s great inventiveness and sense of humor. Here, as elsewhere, he has brilliantly put these talents at the service of critiquing both the artistic persona and the power relations among institutions within Western society, making him one of the contemporary artists who most successfully mix a personal imaginary with political engagement.