site.btaCornered (Future) Solo Show #4: Nedko Solakov Exhibition Opens at National Gallery in Sofia

Cornered (Future) Solo Show #4, an exhibition of works by Nedko Solakov opened Friday at the Palace National Art Gallery. "Nedko Solakov, as we know, is an artist who can do almost anything. In the field of art, he has a huge achievements in various countries and parts of the world," said Yaroslava Bubnova,  National Gallery Director and curator of the exhibition. 

Bubnova said that Nedko Solakov was not always understood by the official institutions. The only thing I can say is that this time Nedko Solakov is very welcome at the National Gallery. For now, under the stairs," Bubnova said with a smile.

She said he is about to be "properly presented" at the National Gallery.

The National Gallery is not the first place where he chooses a "humble spot", said Bubnova.

Nedko Solakov said the idea for the project came to him four years ago during the COVID pandemic. That's when he offered gallery directors he knew to give him a small corner that had never been used to display art. 

He has already presented his works in three "corner" exhibitions in major European museums: #1  in the MUDAM, the Grand-Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (2021), #2 at the National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century in Rome (2022), and #3 at the Upper Belvedere in Vienna, which continues through June 19 of this year.

The Sofia-based Solakov is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. He has an impressive professional biography with over 100 solo exhibitions in illustrious museums across Europe, America, and Asia, the National Gallery says. He has also had long-standing collaborations with prestigious international galleries and has participated in numerous international biennales such as Istanbul, Sydney, Venice, New Orleans, Tirana, Sharjah, Riga, Kathmandu, Moscow, Seville, Sao Paulo, Yekaterinburg, and Thessaloniki, among others. Additionally, he has been part of group exhibitions curated by visionary curators.

Notably, he is the only artist living in Bulgaria who has represented the country at the Biennale di Venezia and has been also included three times in its main curatorial project. In 2007, he received an “Honorable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition” at the 52nd Biennale. Nedko Solakov has also twice participated in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dokumenta in Kassel.