Artnews.org: Anton Stoianov

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Anton Stoianov

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Anton Stoianov
Die Himmelfart des Elija
2007
Gouache auf Holz, Gold
30x40 cm

More images: www.artnews.org/antonstoianov

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Nice & Fit will present two distinct bodies of work by Bulgarian born artist Anton Stoianov. His solo exhibition of panel paintings will open on the 1st of September in the main gallery while a series of ink jet prints and drawings will be shown from September 29th in the Nice & Fit Showroom.

Directly referencing Byzantine icons by employing traditional materials (wood from his native Sofia, gold) he also insists on stylistic similarities such as flat silhouettes against golden backgrounds, unbroken contours that enclose the shapes, and scenarios that at first glance seem to be drawn from well known examples of Byzantine painting.

The “Pantocrator” though is less the judge of the world, or a formal manifestation of heavenly power: in Stoianov’s universe this stern figure becomes a symbol of earthly delights, with a body adorned with elegant, all-over tattoos and a sizeable joint in hand. Elsewhere, amongst an assembly of saints in multi colored robes and bright halos, there emerge large glasses of mouthwatering beer.

The use of this outmoded style apart from a sincere, albeit humorous retake also reveals an interest in sub-cultures: religious, and sexual, or more broadly, an interest in rituals, dress codes and signs that delineate practices, obsessions and attachments to objects. This aspect of his work is also evident in the ink jet prints and drawings that complement and clarify his artistic motivations.

Both the icons and the works on paper emphasize the devotional, fetishist quality he is interested in by means of their presence as “objects”. The thick, vibrant wood of the paintings, and then the various ways of displaying the works on paper. The ink jets, based on photographs mostly of events such as the Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, depict a vast humanscape animated by a theatrical disposition and a delectation for ornament. To make this doubly visible, Stoianov adds rivets, over paints, sandwiches the prints between clear rubber, or attaches them on blackened frames.

The totality of the work comes off as a circuit of visual memories and cultural awareness from the aesthetics of orthodoxy in an ex-communist country to the collective experiences of Panoramabar in Berlin.

Anton Stoianov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1978. He studied in the Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna and is a recent graduate of the Universität der Künste, Berlin.
He lives and works in Berlin.

Anton Stoianov

1978 born in Sofia, Bulgaria

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Education

2007 Diploma in Fine Art, Universität der Künste (UdK), Berlin, Prof. Leiko Ikemura
2006 California College of the Arts, San Francisco (exchange student program)
2001 Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Prof. Barbara Putz-Plecko, Prof. Erwin Wurm
1998 Academy of Fine Arts, Prof. Toma Varbanov, mural department

Grants

Nika- California College of the Arts, San Francisco 2006

Solo Exhibitions

2009
Anton Stoianov, Apartment, Berlin
2007
Anton Stoianov works on paper, Nice & Fit SHOWROOM, Berlin
Anton Stoianov, Nice & Fit, Berlin
2002
“Anton Stoianov”, Palais Wittgenstein, Vienna,

Group Exhibitions

2010
"Ins Blickfeld gerückt", Instiut Français, Berlin
"Aka Symbol", Forgotten Bar, Berlin
"Tape Modern No.13", Berlin
2009
"Hüttendong", after the butcher, Berlin
"Le Eck Lypse Höhle - an oracle", Skulturenpark, Berlin
Souterrain, Berlin
"Diesseits der Alpen: Hunger
Jenseits der Alpen: Durst", Galerie Antik, Berlin
2008
"Don't you dare look at me", Nice & Fit, Berlin, curated by Norbert Witzgall
"Freuden der Jugend III", Artnews Projects, Berlin
“Sieg of Sonne”, Elektrohaus, Hamburg
"Der Jugend", Kunstverein Arnsberg
2007
"Drawings", Jikisiten Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
"Nice & Fit Temporary at ReMap KM", Athens, organized by Chloe Vaitsou
2006
“The New Baroque”, Nice & Fit, Berlin
"Rio", Artnewsprojects, Berlin
"Park-Inn", parking house, Berlin
"Die Sonne", Raumerweiterungshalle, Berlin

Bibliography

2009
Peepingtom magazine, May
2008
Corinna Koch, "White Cube Ambition", Spex, January
Voin de Voin, "Gay Art", Edno, March
Timothy Moore, "Positive Spirituality", They Shoot Homos Don´t They? 005
2007
Alix Rule, "Round up of the best shows in Berlin", saatschi-gallery.co.uk
"What's on, Anton Stoianov at Nice & Fit", EXBERLINER, issue 53, p.44
"Joan Krastitel", "Peter und Pavel", basso magazin #4, p.36 & 38
2006
The Artfile,"New Baroque ?", EXBERLINER, December, issue no 45, p.38

Anton Stoianov

Anton Stoianov
Brunnenstr 163
10119 Berlin

antonstoianov@hotmail.com