Beginning with the words “Once upon a time . . . ,” fairy tales tell of faraway eras and evoke a different reality that augments one’s own experience of reality through illusion, making them both disturbing and liberating. This also applies to the “stories” of Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov, which take shape as delicately washed image-text combinations, often in multipart drawing cycles. Since his participation in the Venice Biennale (2007) and documenta in Kassel (2007 and 2012), Solakov, who was born in 1957 and is based in Sofia, has been considered one of the leading figures in international contemporary art.

Solakov is a talented narrator: his drawings are about everyday occurrences that turn out to be absurd commentaries on human existence. The visual artist challenges seemingly collective truths in his multifaceted work that in addition to drawings also includes paintings and installations. He even reflects on failure as a metaphor for human existence and discovers paradox as the dominant structure in the political courses of the world. His ability to grasp current topics in the form of stories that find a perfect balance between pleasure of narrating a story and ironic twist is a characteristic that makes his work unique—and extremely entertaining.

Being Vallotton, the title of the exhibition at Villa Flora, depicts Solakov as a great admirer of his artistic predecessor. By taking on the role of the older artist, he creates an idiosyncratic new interpretation of the classic artist and incorporates his own work into the overall art-historical context. Nedko Solakov is also a highly unorthodox conceptual artist who sees the world—and the art world—with humor and irony, reinterpreting the masterpieces of the past from a contemporary view—as a magnificent tribute to Félix Vallotton.

Curated by Konrad Bitterli