Exhibition
El Aumento – The Expand
Valentin Bakardjiev
September 19 – October 7, 2023

 

Rakursi Art Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition of Valentin Bakardjiev “El Aumento – The Expand”. The exhibition is provoked by artist’s personal searches related to the study of the creative inspiration. The works are created from his “old” paintings, which he transforms into new works by cutting them into pieces. These pieces are then put back together like a puzzle. The “new” works rise figuratively and literally, as from a two-dimensional canvas, Valentin Bakardjiev creates three-dimensional objects, using the volume of a pyramid – as a basis. Multiplied, these pyramids intensify the feeling of the vibration of the canvas itself. At the same time, parts of the old canvases can still be recognized in them – an eye, hand, face, but constructed in a new way and carrying a new meaning, for a different overlay of stories, rearranged, like a harmonious mosaic that sets off the viewer to new journeys.

                                                                                                                         Curator Mila Stareishinska – Angelova

 

Valentin Bakardjiev

The creative process.

Valentin Bakardjiev was born in Bulgaria. He has lived in Bulgaria, Dominican Republic and Italy and now he is holding residency in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Valentin Bakardjiev had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Shanghai, Milan and Chicago.
His work fuses traditional with the contemporary and The East with The West back together.
Some of his recent participations in various international forums are:
Le Grand Bleu “Planet Nine - The Missing Planet” selected for participation in The 7th Riga International Triennial Tradition & Innovation: QUO VADIS, in the summer of 2023.
Le Grand Bleu “d’Earth” selected for participation in the International Biennial for Paper Fiber Art, Earth Speak: Giving Voice to Paper 2023/24 At the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute NTCRI, Nantou, Taiwan. And the exhibition "THE POWER", Alina Art Foundation in Torino, Italy.

“In 2016 I started working on this upcycle art project, which originated from my conviction that the figurative paintings I had made in the past did not have the right form and shape anymore. I decided to cut up these paintings, to stop doing what the public expected from me, and become the artist that I wanted to be. So, I destroyed my oil paintings and reused them to create a new art series. I transformed my figurative art into abstract art, where all the symbols are repositioned and yet remain recognizable.’’