The exhibition thematizes transformation, the process of reorganization, metamorphosis, merger, refinement, and transition. It explores changes of form, state, matter, energy, and force, the process of turning one thing into another. The object of this transformation that could be interpreted both creatively and destructively is the snake’s body.
Several forms of transformation are visualized, in which the snake’s body is materially altered, but imbued with symbolic meanings. We see a snake that has swallowed bodies. The assimilation of those signifies the absorption of strength and knowledge, a welcoming of inner content. In another drawing, the body crystallizes, with crystallization presented as a form of enchantment, and enchantment as a manifestation of transformation. In another exhibit, the snake as a representative of underworld forces is touched by a meteorite and turns to stone, losing its vitality upon contact with the cold celestial metal. In another composition, the snake appears in the symbolic sense of an alchemical vessel – it envelops, unites, contains, and transforms. In one of the drawings, light turns into matter and matter into light. Transformation is a path of change and renewal, of gaining experience and knowledge.
Space, matter, and energy are expressed in the drawings through a specific language. Gridded fields host a geometric mise-en-scène of colorful or monochrome actions. Matter is sometimes dense, but often alternates with empty space, thus charging the drawings with vibrating energy. Optically, the drawings pulsate in a rhythm of alternating emptiness and density, playing with the viewer’s eye. The presence of forms is at times visible, at times fading into space.
In terms of plasticity, the exhibition unites monumental and delicate, dynamic and static, empty and dense, archaic and futuristic. It connects ornamental with minimalist, heavy with light, colorful with monochrome, rhythm with asynchrony, and structure with arbitrariness. The works speak a symbolic language, and their aura is magical.
ABOUT VITTO VALENTINOV:
Vitto Valentinov was born in 1977 in Sofia, where he lives and works. He creates mostly installations, often with audience participation. He studied at the National School of Fine Arts, (1991-1996) and mural painting at the National Academy of Arts, (1997-1999), after which he graduated from the AKI Academy of Arts, (1999-2004) and the DAI Dutch Arts Institute (2004-2006).
In 2006 he made his debut with the short film “Falling on the Fovea”, made together with Kristina Janachkova, with which he participated in the exhibition “The Projection Project” at the Museum of Contemporary Art MuHKA, Antwerp. The same year he returned to Bulgaria and specialized in film directing at NATFA (2007-2009). Valentinov has participated in numerous exhibitions in galleries, museums and festivals, including Biennale de Kunstvlaai 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Sofia Design Week 2012, Sofia; Contempo – International Art Festival 2014, Varna; TEDxBG 2014, Sofia; Space SSEE Gallery, Daejeon, South Korea; CEC Artslink Residency Program in New York and Cincinnati, USA; Sofia; SAMSI – Sofia Arsenal Museum of Contemporary Art, Sofia; SGHG – Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia; Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv; Vienna Contemporary 2015 – Focus Bulgaria, Vienna, Austria; Goethe Institute, Sofia; The New New – Art Science Tech Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece, NEXT Balkan, Belgrade, Serbia and Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, Romania.
