Born in 1957, this Bulgarian artist has been exhibiting his complex, multi-faceted shows to great acclaim since the 1990’s. His work, which often interweaves performance, drawings, installations and video, and includes a strong story-telling element, has been exhibited in major venues throughout Europe, as well as in Japan, South America and the U.S.
Solakov stayed at the JCVA during November of 2003, for an extremely productive three weeks. During his stay, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem put on his show, Alien Auras. He also participated in the international Art Focus 4 show in Jerusalem, with a work entitled, Cell, composed of ink drawings on the wall. The JCVA provided Solakov with a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and Gesthemane. Solakov, a practicing Christian, reported that there is a palpable presence and holiness to be experienced in the city.
Alien Auras
In Alien Auras, the artist’s clues to an intangible, possibly imaginary universe were hidden in or near various Judaica artifacts in the Judaica Galleries of the Israel Museum. While some of Solakov’s works are entirely inaccessible to viewers (when placed on gallery ceilings, for example), this one was accompanied by a poetic, handwritten “road map” which allowed the active, searching (and sometimes bending and kneeling) museum-goer to find the numbered clues and trace the artist’s suggestions for an alternative world within the museum. The clues led viewers to, for example, “a temporary meeting place for thoughts passing by,” or to other elusive presences. In this, as in other shows, Solakov plays with viewer’s expectations, and questions the institutional context of contemporary art. His scribbles, stories, and small-format classic drawings, often political and critical in content, are imbued with lyrical and evocative qualities. Their mode of presentation is itself intrinsic to Solakov's artistic work, and responds in each case to the given spatial situation. In his recent A 12 1/3 (and even more) Year Survey exhibition, which traveled to three different locations, the show took on a new character in each venue, responding to the local space, atmosphere, and contemporary situation.
