Troubled Ground
by Antonia Gurkovska, Chicago, IL / Sofia
| Antonia Gurkovska (b.1984) received her BFA in 2008 from the National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2009 she won the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, which supported her way to the Art Institute of Chicago from where she graduated in 2011 with a MFA degree in Painting and Drawing. Since then she has participated in numerous exhibitions in USA and Europe. Most notable: Art Basel - Miami Beach (represented by Kavi Gupta Gallery) (2013); The Skin I live In, Kavi Gupta Berlin (2013); Armory Show NY (2012 - 2013); Index, Kavi Gupta Gallery (2012); Changing States of Matter, Brand New Gallery, Milan (2012); The Question of Their Content, Zolla Lieberman Gallery (2012); Union League of Chicago (2011); Irritable Abstraction, Julius Caesar, Chicago (2011). During 2011 - 2012 she taught Painting classes and Contemporary Art seminars at the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Academy of Art in Sofia. Since 2012 she is represented by Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago. Antonia Gurkovska currently works in Sofia, Bulgaria and Chicago, USA. Contact Website: http://gurkovska.com
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Antonia Gurkovska Photo: Courtesy the Artist|gurkovska.com and KAVI GUPTA Gallery |
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Troubled Ground is Antonia Gurkovska’s first solo exhibition in Plovdiv. It is a temporary installation that is built in the main space of the Centre for Contemporary Art “Bania Starinna”. It takes up the entire floor area, aiming to leave the space intact and ‘empty’, while repeating it at the same time.
The project Troubled Ground is related to the history and the currently much debated state of ownership of “Bania Starinna”. It derives from Antonia’s past projects/installations like Void and Compensation (2013), Container (2012) and The Skin I Live In (2013). It is made, thought of and executed the way Gurkovska approaches painting, with large scale gestures, specific choices and precision, yet open to chance. It technically resembles the indexical repetitive action similar to the way the dots in the paintings are applied: all together contributing to forming a large square grid painting whose surface would flip content. Its context is closely tied to the contemporary painting discourse, which often challenges what a painting represents and what it contains. As in this case - it is a troubled ground, a container that points to itself.
Courtesy the Artist|gurkovska.com and KAVI GUPTA Gallery |
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