BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv at SARIEV Contemporary, Danchova house, Coffee&Gallery Cu29, Artnewscafe, FLUCA – Austrian cultural pavilion and Lucky cinema

Artists: Mitch Brezounek, Valko Chobanov, Velizar Dimchev, Dimitar Genchev, Yavor Kostadinov, Lyubomir Krastev, Dimitar Shopov, Trifon Tashev, Martina Vacheva

Exhibition title: BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv

Venue: SARIEV Contemporary, Danchova house, Coffee&Gallery Cu29, Artnewscafe, FLUCA – Austrian cultural pavilion, Lucky cinema, Plovidv, Bulgaria

Date: July 5 – August 30, 2019

Photography: Lina Krivoshieva and Maria Djelebova / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and SARIEV Contemporary, Plovidv

Beginning in the early years of developing of gallery SARIEV Contemporary and upgraded with a new format and vision in 2010, the platform “BACKGROUND: Young Artists” aims to select young artists, focus on their creativity and reveal new formats as well as aesthetic and conceptual perspectives of art today. In the process of making “BACKGROUND: Young Artists” SARIEV Contemporary often sets goals in the territory of that system of factors around art that make it visible and on display. Thus “BACKGROUND: Young Artists” has illuminated new spaces for exposure, giving freedom for developing new curatorial and communication practices in order to open a wider field in which to “be with art”.

In July and August 2019, SARIEV presents “BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv” and as a gallery which has begun its development in Plovdiv, it approaches it in a specific way. The intention of the gallery in its approach towards the exhibition is to make a situation that gives freedom for development and presentation of new projects of artists who work in Plovdiv, while emphasizing the character of the city and the places in the way of situating the projects. The exhibition refuses to work with a curator, topic or particular artistic focus. It has no beginning or end and the point of view to it is complex and open. Most of the decisions in the course of the exhibition are taken by the gallery together in a common conversation and meetings with the invited artists Martina Vacheva, Mitch Brezounek Dimitar Genchev, Velizar Dimchev, Yavor Kostadinov, Lyubomir Krastev, Trifon Tashev, Valko Chobanov and Dimitar Shopov. The selection of the invited artists does not show a certain artistic tendency (though it partially illustrates such), but presents artists with expressed artistic character, among which there is generational proximity, human, collegial, and sometimes artistic exchange. This is also a group exhibition, but in the way it is set it is a combination of independent ones, presenting individual projects in separate spaces. The individual presentations are arranged separately by each of the artists with support from the gallery and show their current works, their aesthetic and thematic quests at the moment, which is the main focus of interest of “BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv”. Part of the exhibition are also the planned conversation with the artists, party with their music sets and a film featuring studio visits with them. “BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv” is situated not only in its traditional location – SARIEV Contemporary, but also gives way to other artistic spaces such as Danchova house in the Old Town with its typical Bulgarian Revival architecture and the young gallery Cu29. In the communication of the exhibition, gallery SARIEV decided to question the role of design as introducing the aesthetics of the exhibitions and offering the first stylistic viewpoint of their reading. That is why the gallery is working with the designer from Hamburg Paul Voggenreiter for the communication in English and with print studio “Artcommerce design” from Plovdiv for the communication in Bulgarian, giving them total freedom to present the “young artists from Plovdiv” and accepting unconditionally their first suggestions. As well as that, SARIEV is refusing the traditional curatorial text format which is supposed to introduce the artists and the exhibition in advance, instead aiming to realize material after the exhibition opening, which will present perspectives to the already realized exhibition and works in a conversation between artists, gallerists, art historians, curators, visitors, collectors, designers, the author of the film, the exhibition partners. A material in which the new visual identity of SARIEV Contemporary, too, will be announced.

“BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv”, as well as in previous years, will include “Portfolio Day” – a format that provides opportunity to young artists who have applied and were selected to consult their work in dialogue with established artists, gallerists, curators and collectors.

BACKGROUND: Young Artists is a long-lasting platform by SARIEV Contemporary for young artists and curators, whose exhibitions are realized in the gallery space and satellite public spaces such as Kapana, Plovdiv, FLUCA – Austrian cultural pavilion, bar TELL ME (Sofia) and abroad (Bulgarian Embassy in Finland). The following artists have been presented so far in the platform: Kiril Kuzmanov and Svetoslav Michev (2010), Lubri (2011), Zoran Georgiev (2012), Daniela Georgieva (2013), Dimitar Solakov (2014), Martina Vacheva (2016), Eli Joteva and Zlatimir Arakliev (2018), as well as the special edition of BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv in Helzinki (Valko Chobanov, Martina Vacheva, Dimitar Shopov, 2018).

In 2016 the exhibition platform expanded with two new formats: Portfolio Day (editions in 2016 and 2018) where young artists under the age of 35 selected after an open invitation, receive individual counseling from a professional committee composed of leading curators, artists and gallerists, and 15 Minutes of Fame (2016 and 2018) – a presentation format in which young artists present their work to an audience in an event designed dramaturgically and including interludes with music and performances.

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, SARIEV Contemporary, Danchova house, Plovidv

Dimitar Shopov, Оutlet 3d Dogs, 2019, installation, 440 х 307 х 45 cm /vitrine

Dimitar Shopov, MOSKVITCH, 2019, gummy painting, phaser, print, 120 x 200 cm

Dimitar Shopov, Zil, 2019, gummy painting, phaser, photo wallpaper, 120 x 200 cm

Dimitar Shopov, Chavdar, 2019, gummy painting, phaser, photo wallpaper, 120 x 200 cm

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, SARIEV Contemporary, Danchova house, Plovidv

Dimitar Shopov, Shelf with a box of chewing gums “3d DOGS”, 2019, 26 pcs. gums, unique work

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, SARIEV Contemporary, Plovidv

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, Artnewscafe, Plovidv

Dimitar Genchev, Living-room, 2019, oil on canvas, 190 x 230 cm

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, Danchova house, Plovidv

Valko Chobanov, To a degree it’s empty, 2019, object from tape, paper, metal meshwork, silicone, clothes, acrylic paint, varnish, 122 x 95 x 97 cm

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, Danchova house, Plovidv

Mitch Brezounek, Untitled, 2019, skulls, tiles, Styrofoam, 106 х 30 х 60 cm

Mitch Brezounek, Untitled, 2019, glazed ceramic, gaz concrete, tiles, Styrofoam, 167 x 26 x31 cm

Mitch Brezounek, Untitled, 2019, bone, tiles, Styrofoam, 37 х 50 х 34 cm

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, Danchova house, Plovidv

Velizar Dimchev, Domestic items 2, 2019, digital print on dibond, nickellated metal frame, 120 x 90 cm

Velizar Dimchev, Domestic items 1, 2019, digital print on dibond, metal wire mesh (powder coated) and nickellated metal frame, 120 x 90 cm

Velizar Dimchev, Domestic Items 3, 2019, digital print on dibond, metal wire mesh (powder coated) and nickellated metal element, 90 x 40 сm

BACKGROUND: Young Artists from Plovdiv, 2019, exhibition view, Danchova house, Plovidv

Martina Vacheva, Hitar Petar scores again, 2019, acrylic painting, clay, cow excrement, dry grass on hemp, wood, glazed ceramic, textile, variable dimensions