«Ad ArtUnlimited, qualche anno fa, ho presentato il lavoro di Nedko Solakov A Beauty: una grande balena bianca ricoperta con peluche candido. Nella sua pancia, come Giona, si vede una luna dipinta e lucente, ma, per vederla, bisogna mettersi in ginocchio col sedere per aria...
Mentre scrivo questo breve racconto, Solakov è qui con me oggi e vorrebbe dire una cosa, eccola: “This is from Nedko: while Massimo was writing the previous sentences explaining that I was seating next to him, I was thinking what exactly does he sell. Here is what he sells as one of the most important gallerists working nowadays, he sells relations. Relations between the artist, the work of art and the collector and respectively the viewer, relations of devoted appreciation and love”.
Bene, grazie Nedko ma lasciami dire che quella settimana ad ArtBasel/Unlimited ho visto tante persone importantissime, inginocchiarsi per vedere la luna nel ventre della tua scultura e ridevano, ridevano ed erano tutti felici e contenti. A volte l'arte fa ridere, sorridere, crea gioia, e tutti questi importanti personaggi col sedere per aria rendevano meno drammatica la fiera più importante del mondo...».
Massimo Minini
Pizzini by Massimo Minini, in Art Basel |Year 44, JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2014
La prossima mostra in galleria, sabato 27 settembre, continua un’avventura nata anni fa con A Group Show.
Nel 2007 Solakov con stile ironico e ricco di metafore mostrava le varie nature stilistiche perno della sua arte fin dai primi anni Novanta. Oggi come allora, con la sua graffiante capacità narrativa, l'artista continua a raccontarci poliedriche storie e nel suo A Group Show #2 chiama in causa sette differenti pittori dai nomi curiosi, che altro non sono che le svariate sfaccettature dell'Artista Solakov: the Pretentious Storyteller, the Zen Master, the Naughty Artist, the Romantic One, the Conceptual Painter, the Modest Craftsman, the Site-Specific Colorist.
Accanto a grandi opere popolate da figure immaginarie la mostra propone una serie di dipinti che rappresentano quella parte del corpo femminile tanto amata soprattutto dal genere maschile, il sedere appunto, già chiamato in causa dall'opera A Beauty. («Curioso che il sedere, ancora lui, sia il trait d'union tra la nostra galleria e Solakov» dice Minini). È the Naughty Artist, il pittore più impertinente, a ritrarre le rotondità della sua Gallerista bulgara, della sua Assistente bulgara, della “sua” Culturologista bulgara e della sua Cultural Reporter dei sogni, anch'essa bulgara. Ancora una volta Solakov, giocando con la propria abilità pittorica e soprattutto con l'acuta ironia che lo contraddistingue, vuole conquistare, stuzzicare e provocare lo spettatore.
Dagli inizi del 1990, Nedko Solakov (nato nel 1957, Tcherven Briag, Bulgaria; vive a Sofia) ha esposto in Europa e negli Stati Uniti. Il suo lavoro è stato esposto in Aperto ‘93 (Biennale di Venezia); nella 48a , 49a , 50a e 52a Biennale di Venezia; 3a , 4a e 9a Istanbul Biennial; São Paulo ‘94; Manifesta 1, Rotterdam; 2a e 4a Gwangju Biennial; 5a Lyon Biennial, Sonsbeek 9, Arnhem, 4a e 5a Cetinje Biennial, 1a Lodz Biennial; 7a Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates; 3a Tirana Biennial; 2a Seville Biennial; 2a Moscow Biennial; 16a Sydney Biennial, e Prospect 1, New Orleans Biennial; documenta 12 and dOCUMENTA (13). Recentemente ha realizzato personali a Museu do Chiado, Lisbon; Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam; CCA Kitakyushu, Japan; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona; Kunsthaus Zurich; Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, Sofia City Art Gallery e Galleria Borghese, Roma. Nel 2003-2005 la personale "A 12 1/3 (and even more) Year Survey" è stata rappresentata a Casino Luxembourg, Rooseum Malmoe e O.K Centrum Linz, e nel 2008-2009 il progetto “Emotions” è stato esposto al Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, e Mathildenhoehe, Darmstadt. Nel 2011-2012 “All in Order, with Exceptions” è stata presentata a Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst / S.M.A.K., Ghent and Museu de Arte Contemporanea Serralves, Porto.
“At Art Unlimited a few years back, I presented Nedko Solakov’s work A Beauty: a big white whale with a snowy pelt of fake fur. Inside its belly, like Jonah, was a shining painted moon, but to see it, you had to get down on your knees with your rump in the air...
As I’m writing this today, Solakov is here with me and has something he’d like to add: ‘This is from Nedko: while Massimo was writing the previous sentences explaining that I was sitting next to him, I was thinking about what he sells, exactly.
This is what he sells, as one of the most important gallerists working nowadays – he sells relations. Relations between the artist, the work of art and the collector, and respectively the viewer, relations of devoted appreciation and love’.
Well, thanks, Nedko. But let me say that in that week at Art Basel/Unlimited I saw a bevy of very important people kneel down to peer at the moon in the belly of your sculpture, and they were laughing and laughing, happy as clams. Sometimes art brings a smile to your face, it fosters joy, and all these important people with their bottoms in the air made the world's most important art fair seems less dramatic...”
Massimo Minini
Pizzini by Massimo Minini, in Art Basel |Year 44, JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2014
The next exhibition at the gallery, opening Saturday, September 27, continues an adventure that started years ago in A Group Show. In 2007, with his tongue-in-cheek, richly metaphoric approach, Solakov revealed the diverse stylistic qualities his art has hinged on since the early Nineties. Just as he did then, the artist again turns his mordant narrative talents to telling polyhedric stories, and in his A Group Show #2, channels seven different painters with odd names, who are merely varied facets of Solakov the Artist: the Pretentious Storyteller, the Zen Master, the Naughty Artist, the Romantic One, the Conceptual Painter, the Modest Craftsman, and the Site-Specific Colorist.
Alongside large-scale works peopled with imaginary figures, the show presents a series of paintings that depict a portion of female anatomy particularly admired by the male gender: the backside, of course, previously associated with the work A Beauty. («Oddly enough, bottoms once again seem to be a theme linking Solakov to our gallery» Minini said). It is the Naughty Artist, the most impertinent of these painters, who portrays the curves of his Bulgarian Gallerist, his Bulgarian Assistant, “his” Bulgarian Culturologist and the Cultural Reporter of his dreams, also Bulgarian. Once again, relying on his skill in the medium and above all, the biting wit that he is known for, Solakov aims to both tickle and provoke his viewers.
