Slav Nedev

I see a work of art as a kind of dream, a matter, which in its vagueness conveys what sometimes clear conceptual thinking, cannot communicate.

For me, the words of Francis Picabia “Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.” are absolutely valid both as definition of my work, and as artistic credo.

As an artist I have gone through various periods of interest, experimentation, and exploration of media and size. I always need to get involved emotionally and mentally with a theme, media or social, philosophical or psychological problem, in order to start exploring it through the means of art. Usually such involvement results in a series of works. Once my “visions” of a subject for that period or stage have been realized, the series is accomplished. After some time, normally years, I can return to the same theme with different tools and a different point of view.

Depending on the subject I am interested in, my compositional process can be quite spontaneous and intuitive or, in contrast, executed with meticulously planned preliminary consideration and preparation of every detail. However, the things I am always interested in are the idea, the principle, the type, and the symbolic of the image.

In this sense, even when I paint concrete objects, I am an abstract artist, as far as “abstract” means (according to C. Jung) to remove concrete details with the purpose of reaching a more general idea.

1967 Born in Sofia, Bulgaria.
         Lives and works in Sofia.

Since 2012 Founding member & President of Biotope Assn.
Since 2001 Member of Union of the Bulgarian Artists

Selected Solo Shows
2018 Objects, Arosita Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 Slav Nedev. Paintings, Zehentstadel Art Space, Beratzhausen, Germany
2016 Water Prints, Artur Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Biotope in The Ballet Rehearsal Room (part of Small Rooms project), The Ballet Rehearsal Room, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
2015 Biotope 17, Arosita Gallery (Stick Place), Sofia
2010 Biotope, Sofia Press Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 Images from Nowhere, Agrion Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2006 Remains, Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 Elements, Rakursi Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2003 Creation, Kozhuharovi Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Between Two Dreams, Triadiss Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2001 Selected Works, Kempinski & Zografski Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria
1999 Works on Paper, Dritta Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1996 Remains, Ata-ray Gallery & Sheraton Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria
1995 Selected Works, Vitosha Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria


Selected Group Shows
2019 C (Carbon), Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         While Walking about the City, Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 The Gift, ICA Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Paper Time, Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Ilindentsi. An Art Zone, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Youthexhibition 2, Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 7th Beijing International Art Biennale "The Silk Road and World Civilizations", Beijing, China
         Bistrichki, Valchev, Nedev, Simeonov, Art Center, Pleven, Bulgaria
         Bistrichki, Valchev, Nedev, Stubel Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         PaySage, U P.A.R.K. Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2016 PaySage, The Red Dot Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         τόπος - topographies - ...topias, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (Catalog)
2015 SUPER[M]ART[KET], Graffit Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
         Map of the New Art, Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy
         Sound & Color, Papillon Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
2014 Snap to Grid, LACDA (The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art), Los Angeles, USA
         New Shades in Contemporary Art, Blagoevgrad/Sofia 2014, Arosita Gallery, Sofia
         What Happened?, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         To Be Continued… (Gaudenz B. Ruf Collection), Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Freeze Frame, Blagoevgrad City Gallery, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
         Then and Now, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         The Untold Abstraction, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 Open Monument – vergängliche Denkmäler im öffentlichen Raum, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
         Hospital for Lovers, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Section 13 Annual Exhibition, Schipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 Earth | Body | Mind, KIAF 2012, Metropark, Kathmandu, Nepal
         Magnet & Antimagnet, ICA Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Chances, Choices, Changes, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria (Catalog)
         Communications, VIVACOM Art Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Tree of Life, VIVACOM Art Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria
         MOST Nominations, Modern Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 Urban Zone, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 Section 13 Annual Exhibition, Industrialna 11 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2009 Dvaja Bratia (Two Brothers), Bulgarian Cultural Institute Bratislava, Slovakia
         Reality & Fiction, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         TAPE INVITES at Made in Arnhem 2009, Arnhem, Netherlands
         Environmental Justice, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
         Portrait, IMON Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 Uninhibited Contacts, Argos Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Short Distance, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         August in Art Biennial for Contemporary Art, Varna, Bulgaria
2007 Generations’ Dialog, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Traffic, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Cultural Identity, Sofia Press Gallery, Sofia / Alexey von Schlippe Gallery, Groton, CT, USA
         Balance, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2006 The Body, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 Drawing, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Portrait, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Personal Mythologies, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2004 Landscape, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2003 Water Media, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         10 Years Izkustvo/Art in Bulgaria Magazine, Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia
         The Figure Painting, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Five Bulgarian Artists, Bulgarian Embassy, Copenhagen, Denmark
2002 Interior, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
         Bulgarian Painting after 1989, National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria
2001 Painting, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Young Bulgarian Artists, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
1996 Spiritual Messages (Series of Yearly Shows that lasted until 2001), Vitosha Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
1993 New Names 2, Shipka 6 Gallery of UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria


Residencies & Art Symposiums
2017 Mit Holz kochen, International Art Symposium, Beratzhausen, Bavaria, Germany
2015 Sound & Color, Varna, Bulgaria
2014 Anders und doch gleich, International Art Symposium, Beratzhausen, Bavaria, Germany
         Freeze Frame, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
2012 Residency at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Bavaria, Germany
         Art 2012, Ilindentsi Art Center, Ilindentsi, Bulgaria
         The Old School International Artist Residency, Gorna Lipnitsa, Bulgaria
2011 World Art Games - Vukovar 2011 International Art Symposium, Vukovar, Croatia
2010 Residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
         Art Paths, Krapets, Bulgaria
2008 The Steps of Time, Sliven, Bulgaria
2007 8th Watercolor Art Symposium “D. Uzunov”, Sozopol, Bulgaria
         Uninhibited Contacts (2nd International Art Symposium), Nessebar, Bulgaria
         Oryahovo 2007 International Art Symposium, Oryahovo, Bulgaria
2006 7th Watercolor Art Symposium “D. Uzunov”, Sozopol, Bulgaria
2004 Sozopol Art Symposium, Sozopol, Bulgaria
2003 Vlasina 2003 International Art Symposium, Leskovac Cultural Center, Leskovac, Serbia


Collections
Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing, China
City Museum of Vukovar, Vukovar, Croatia
Contemporary Bulgarian Art, New Bulgarian University Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria
Cultural Center of Leskovac, Leskovac, Serbia
Department of State, Washington D.C., USA
Gaudenz B. Ruf, Zürich, Switzerland
Imago Mundi, Fondazione Benetton, Treviso, Italy
Kuratorium Europäische Kulturarbeit, Beratzhausen, Germany
Museum Dechko Usunov, Sofia, Bulgaria
Siddhartha Arts Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal
Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Town of Shabla, Shabla, Bulgaria
World Art Games, Osijek, Croatia

2017 First Prize. Competition for a Work in Public Space, Kazanlak, Bulgaria
2016 Grant for Production of Artworks, Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for New Bulgarian Art
         Grant for Curating a Group Exhibition, Gaudenz B. Ruf Award

2012 Certificate of Honor, Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, Kathmandu, Nepal
2011 Residency at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Bavaria, Germany
2009 Residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2006 Audience Award, National Competition H. Schmincke & Co., Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

         Certificate of Honor, Small Forms Biennial, Pleven 2006, Pleven, Bulgaria
2002 Certificate of Honor, Small Forms Biennial, Pleven 2002, Pleven, Bulgaria