Spare Eye
Arosita gallery
2024
“It is possible that to seem – it is to be,
As the sun is something seeming and it is.”
Wallace Stevens
In this exhibition by Radoslav Maglov, in the form of a series of previously unseen drawings, the author engages with a story about deconstructing the image.
The drawings made with brush and graphite dust on the back of photographic paper, quick-looking sketches outlining elements from everyday life, do not tell stories; they stand silently in limbo of perception, somewhere between said and understood, eye and mind. Their indeterminacy, like a speck of dust in the eye, disturbs and confuses the established internal mechanisms of perception.
The author speaks of the drawings as a non-adhesive surface around which thoughts can float but not attach. Deprived of detail until the loss of specificity, the decision whether to recognize an object or understand the image as an abstraction remains with the viewer. In the hesitation between the two, the duality between looking and seeing emerges.
In his theory of the mirror phase, Lacan argues that the subject forms in consciousness as a child learns to recognize themselves in the mirror. Through their own image, they construct the self. The world is understood through interpreting images constructed in consciousness as a code deciphering reality. Just as the inverted image sent by the eye to the brain, consciousness inverts and interprets what is seen. This can’t be unseen.
Working on a sculpture peace some time ago, a metal element went into Radoslav’s right eye and injured him. After surgery, a scar remained in the retina, visible only to the author from within. He sees the world always behind the scar, like a watermark:
Like a fleeting collapse every time I walk and look only through my right eye. A small dose of adrenaline is injected into the bristling brain for a moment, losing connection with the clear and structured, understandable and recognizable reality. Every time I close my left eye, it’s like diving, I feel the shadow of weightlessness. The world becomes two-dimensional and deconstructed into tender misty swirls.
Looking at Maglov’s drawings, one can choose to accept them as figurative or abstract. Like the disrupted image in Maglov’s eye, the image is disrupted in the viewer’s eye, the information provided is too little to be categorical, yet sufficient to irritate the machine of understanding, what wants to know. And it begins to recognize or try (Pattern Recognition). To see and perceive, perceive and recognize, similar to a Rorschach test.
Sometimes I see the eye from within, and the world is an abstract background against which bloody petals tremble – small, perfectly clear, scarlet amoebas in a petri dish. Glints stretch into distorted bright cracks on a misty background. They crack open the abstract image like small grinning lightning bolts, with sparkling blue-violet needles. Tilting my head, a kaleidoscope spins, a world refracted through glass. Reality, always available and attainable, I close my eyelid and it’s there.
A razor cuts across the eye (Buñuel). Maglov’s is reconstructed but scarred. The habit of seeing must be restored. The artist learns to see again, the damaged mechanism of looking becomes visible to the artist. Consciousness is reminded to doubt what it sees, to read rather than decipher, to return will to the act of seeing. The artist tells us about the process. In a world overflowing with images, mediated by images, the fog of the image is like a step back from reality. Not sur-, but subreal.
The drawings seek a place in the gray territory between manifesting content and its interpretation in the viewer’s consciousness. They are open to meaning, but the meaning of this exhibition cannot be sought nor found in the individual drawings. The author utilizes aesthetic aspects of the experience of physical trauma, offering an impartial, unpolarized, and open view through the scar from it.
Vikenti Komitski
Primaformance
Sofia Zoo / Sofia, Bulgaria
2020 – 2024
“Primaformance” is a permanent installation situated within the inner premises of the Macaca silenus enclosure at Sofia Zoo, initiated in October 2020 during the reconstruction of the primate sector. The project was develloped in collaboration with curator Miroslav Yordanov,.
The installation is designed to function as a biotope for the Macaca silenus inhabitants, transforming their environment into a contextually oriented artwork with performative qualities. The composition consists of a structural arrangement of wooden logs and metal chains, stretched both toward each other and towards the peripheries of the enclosure. This spatial framework reconfigures the habitat into an artistic ecosystem that integrates contemporary artistic practices with the natural behaviors of the primates, generating a unique, entropic biotope within a confined system — the cage.
The stretched metal chains form a network resembling a neural system, transmitting information through physical interactions with the structure. This dynamic interplay underscores the artwork’s integrity, where the physical presence and activities of the primates become an essential element of the composition.
The glazed surface of the cage acts as a permeable boundary — a bidirectional, informational membrane serving as an interface between the interior environment and the viewer. It functions as both a frame that defines the picture plane and a transparent threshold that connects the spectators to the performative essence of the piece.
The performance within “Primaformance” is emergent rather than directed, evolving organically through the interactions of the Macaca silenus species with the installation. It is a continuous transformation of setup and performance, driven by the inherent tension between primal, instinctual activity and the conceptual framework of the constructed environment. The resulting artwork exists as a hybrid of natural behavior and artistic intent, where the line between art and life remains fluid and open to interpretation.
Ontologies of the Uncanny
Arosita gallery
2022
The exhibition “Ontologies of the Uncanny” interrogates the freedom of experience through the body as a primary method for dismantling categories and breaking free from taboos surrounding corporeality. Amorphous flesh, nervously pulsating between the organic and the inorganic, a verbal image, or sheer madness—whatever interpretation is applied to the work of Maglov, and whatever rationale is given, it cannot be veiled by conventional conceptuality.
These forms of “matter” are shapeless, indefinable. They resist classification, defy assimilation into any concept or abstraction. Rather than defining the uncanny and the monstrous as exceptions to the norm, the works presented in this exhibition establish difference as the norm itself. For Maglov, everything we label as monstrous or horrifying is, in its essence, unique and unclassifiable. It cannot be perceived as a deviation from the normal because it emerges from the very same context that gives rise to what is deemed normal.
By articulating what is categorized as horrifying, deformed, and consequently marginalized, the exhibition argues for its existence, rendering it conceivable through an ironically pseudo-scientific taxonomy that translates and makes it accessible within a broader societal context.
Through this approach, Maglov seeks to challenge the necessity of categorization. Convention inherently excludes what it cannot assimilate. The conventional approach defines the normative, while everything outside of it—the Other—remains indefinable. However, by confronting what terrifies and repulses, it becomes conceivable and thus equivalent to what is conventionally accepted. In this way, dichotomies lose their oppressive characteristics, and stereotyping and prejudice are stripped of their power.
Society tends to consolidate more readily around shared parameters of what is considered repulsive than around what is considered appealing. It is more efficient at recognizing, suppressing, and marginalizing the Other than at acknowledging it as a product of the same contextual reality.
Through his works, Maglov dismantles taboos and normative frameworks, opening up the possibility of interpreting the repulsive and the grotesque, legitimizing their existence precisely because they are real and not mere fiction.
Wired / Weird
Credo Bonum Gallery/ Sofia. Germany
2021
The exhibition “Wired / Weird” presents a series of paintings that explore connectivity as a social phenomenon through a phenomenological lens, spanning a wide range and amplitude. Structural social connectivity, whose functional relationship between biological and social levels is largely proportional, has emerged as a dominant factor in social life on a planetary scale over the past year and a half, particularly manifested through the virulence of a single virus.
The focus of the artistic inquiry in “Wired / Weird” is connectivity as a given, and weirdness as a consequence of the marginal states of that very connectivity or its transgressive conditions. These states are defined against the subordinating tendency of any categorization.
The artworks in this exhibition can be viewed as “anatomical” illustrations or “dissections” of social phenomena. They convey a minimalist choreography of narrative and languid duration, devoid of extension, serving an analytical process that generates distinctive “relics.” Or perhaps, these are relics weakened by the classification of species, with decoded genomes arranged on shelves and drawers, aestheticized records and documents.
This process is nourished by ideas that seep through the thinning fabric of the neoliberal social system, permeated by the scent of a decaying anthropocentric model intertwined with an all-pervasive, semiconductor-grown “reason” devoid of primitive emotions. There is no apocalypse—only entropy.
The objects in the exhibition should be seen as art that does not merely concern itself, but rather feeds its own self-irony. Art that overflows the comfortable boundary of its axiom, indifferent to formal efforts directed by the shallow plate of social existence. Art that gazes at nature not to reproduce it, but to acquire material dimensions—a form of interaction that marks an exchange of information, a peculiar interface.
A deeper gaze at the works presented in “Wired / Weird” reveals their resistance to formal aestheticization. They function as a medium that maintains communication with the viewer within a distinct contextual layer of authenticity, without disrupting the conventional structures of perception. This is precisely how Maglov’s works operate: by conforming to established classical aesthetic frameworks, they simultaneously convey a critical message that challenges these very norms. Through the sophisticated language of idealization and aesthetic refinement, Maglov’s works expose the mechanisms of conservative categorization and oppression that arise from the pursuit of perfection. By presenting the uncanny within a meticulously constructed aesthetic framework, they subvert the viewer’s expectations and question the validity of aesthetic norms as tools of exclusion and marginalization.
Solids and Voids / Restless Transitions
SITTart gallery/ Dusseldorf. Germany
Goethe Institute/ Sofia. Bulgaria
2021
The Universal disposition of imagery is considered as a given, if this is not quite the case, it is internalized by our cultured perception into something that generates itself automatically. The perception of images in contemporary culture, including art has become automated, thus wearier as effect and probably more mundane. Self-deception is a bi-product of civilization; it is ultimately about seeing what one desires to see, recreating the image not any longer as a carrier of information, a signifier nor as the signified, but more as the bond in between. The little void in between the solids of semiotics…
The titles of the two exhibitions that amount to the complete project described here states very well the construct if seen chronologically backwards: eventually, it is about the restless transitions of solids and voids. Therefore this project is significant as an intellectual process and attempt to refresh a well-established and worn out, or perhaps too common composition. As often in very good artwork, here the formal examination gradually unfolds into conceptual quest, where the process of creating in fact resembles the reverse engineering of a deconstruction, designed into channeling the thought towards a personal triumph of reinventing essence in few simple but notorious notions. Finally, the discovery of what really is behind the restless transitions of solids and voids is about the notions themselves.
In the same material, the classical substance of the etude Radoslav Maglov molds body parts into reliefs. This is his attempt to comment on an aesthetic convention where in a very clean and clear informel one can see a discreet subversive moment. As if crawling out of the epidermal spores, a tiny joke is being disseminated and that is the setting of the body as a topic of traditional aesthetic investigation. The positive molds of body parts in plaster becomes a form that is at the same time a study, an act, a nude and a memorial of the ephemeral touch of the body with the material. This choice of ambiguity freshly puts forward the question about the daily use of the human body as an object and image in art. As a shape, frozen in the process of becoming an image. Maglov’s works relate to Yves Klein’s anthropomorphic experiments, where he uses the body as an instrument. But unlike the use of light in an instrumental mode, here we see the body as a tool for exploratory self-reflection. The positive mold as a proxy of the body and the intestinal objects (from Restless Transitions) suggest an unusual stance on the body, stripped from the metaphorical, the legendary, the symbolic, the body and its parts performs itself and its flesh as a substance, thus reintroducing it back to the basic form, line, facture, weight and volume.
Light makes visible the shapes of the body in the white cast, where volume is diligently reduced to the plane of a shallow relief. Radiantly glowing the intestinal compositions also function as an aesthetic puzzle. They are equally spectacular and disgusting respectively shining in gold, because of the way the intestine tissue filters the light reflected from the silk threads and, on the other side the way they are “served” on ceramic plates.
The exhibition Restless Transitions develops further the interplay between the body and light and eventually what they represent as notions in the conceptual framework or theorem of the project – voids, described by light and solids – by bodies. The humane and the Universal are in a complex relationship which possibly outwits all interpretations based on the artefacts presented and the creative process that precedes them. If seen as a stage drama between the elements, this project is very conservative as a mode of intellectual engagement and creative expression. But it is also a very thorough study into the relation of aesthetic conventions and conditionality as well as their general contradictions. In this case a conservative (as traditional) attitude towards the processes of making and interpreting art and is in fact more suitable for a phenomenologically defined meeting and constant reinvention of this meeting: audience on one side, audience – on the other.
Yovo Panchev
HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM
Raiko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia
2017
“Hoc est enim corpus meum” – a biblical phrase in Latin that roughly translates to “This is indeed my body.” Words spoken for thousands of years, having moved beyond their literal meaning and into a state of liminality. Maglov’s project presents the image both conceptually and in a radically plastic manner, using universal values typical of generalized truths transmitted to us through a dead language. The titular installation, situated in the main hall of the Raiko Alexiev Gallery, features a group of sculptural objects that can be perceived or held as a whole, but also as separate works – individual entities.
The exhibition revolves around the issue of the boundary between the individual and the group, but this is only its social interpretation. Formally, the pack occupying the gallery space raises numerous questions, overcoming a problematic boundary between plastic stylization and contemporary visual representation, building it into a universal object centered around a dramatic phrase. The objects are simultaneously filled with fleeting volume yet deprived of mass, charged with tension but also with exhaustion.
The exhibition offers a deconstruction of concepts, identity, authorship, and position. Entirely modern in expression and relevant in theme, the exhibition presents several of Maglov’s works from the past year and can be viewed thematically as a terrain of inner explorations across various levels and different roles of the artist in contemporary society.
The exhibition includes installations, sculptures, photographs, and drawings.
Yovo Panchev, curator
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Demystifying the Body: “Hoc Est Enim Corpus Meum” exhibition by Radoslav Maglov
2018
If we could touch the man within with our fingers—imagine those fingers extending like ink, reaching down to the bone marrow. This sensation of delving into the depths of consciousness is achieved in the exhibition Hoc est enim corpus meum by Radoslav Maglov, curated by Yovo Panchev, on display at the Raiko Alexiev Gallery until January 6, 2018.
The exhibition, spread across the two rooms of the gallery, can be seen, in the artist’s words, as a meal consisting of an hors d’oeuvre and a main dish. Presented this way, the concept of the body—its flesh and its inevitable transience—comes unmistakably to the forefront.
In the ‘hors d’oeuvre,’ we encounter the Man and His Body. The human figure is approached fragmentarily, depicted through sculpture and traces—footprints—within a white aesthetic that prepares us for the next phase of the exhibition.
We pass by a large black bubble meant to create the sensation of a “difficult-to-swallow” bite, leading us to the primary installation titled At the Bottom of Saturn’s Hole in the gallery’s main hall.
The slender, herd-like figures containing only black balloons suggest a (perhaps collective) consciousness that remains fragmentary and utterly devoid of any sense of unity. The figure of the black balloon, always interacting with other objects, conveys both a sense of airiness and a lack of consciousness within the objects, while also introducing tension from the potential “bursting” of not only the physical object but also the meaning it carries and the entire reality constructed by Radoslav.
This constant threat of rupture creates a feeling of being on the borderline of a space where the plotline teeters on the edge of climax and conclusion. The effect is simultaneously neurotic and suggestive of chaos, portraying a stream of unstable, abruptly collapsing reality—yet paradoxically static in its unchangeability, despair, and silence, so profound that it seems to absorb all sound. Art, after all, is interpretative and continually evolving through its existence, not after it. In this sense, Radoslav Maglov’s work occupies a threshold but can never truly cross it.
The exhibition presents the individual and the collective, primarily through a lens of decadence and destruction—decay even on a bodily level. Meanwhile, the exhibition’s objects are both meaningless and symbolically loaded, their bodies-homes unable to bear the weight they carry.
Through various forms and approaches—sculpture, photography, and painting—the exhibition offers unconventional perspectives on the body and raises questions about the idea of an exhibition as an act of sharing, expression, and the degradation of the Self. It reflects a tension between personal and “persona” boundaries.
Boyana Jikova
E A S T E R N T R A I L S
GALERIE PLAN.D. / Dusseldorf. Germany
2019
“Eastern Trails” presents the multifaceted practice of Radoslav Maglov, whose work spans painting, sculpture, and installation. With a background rooted in classical art training from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Maglov’s work reflects a complex dialogue between tradition and contemporary expression.
Drawing inspiration from baroque painting and the aesthetics of the past, Maglov’s artistic practice consistently explores themes of corporeality, transience, and the tension between the ephemeral and the eternal. His meticulous technique engages with the materiality of the body and its representation, questioning how notions of decay and beauty intersect within the creative process.
At the heart of the exhibition is Maglov’s “Symphalian” series, where he employs a process of preserving the fragile bodies of decomposing pigeons by coating them with copper. This act of transformation captures a fleeting moment of decay and immortalizes it through material intervention, reminiscent of ancient death rituals yet firmly rooted in a contemporary aesthetic framework.
The installation forms a visual and conceptual meditation on mortality and the endurance of form, where the artist’s focus on the aesthetic moment evokes both introspection and visceral response. Maglov’s work simultaneously acknowledges the inevitability of decay while celebrating the possibility of transcendence through artistic creation.
Through “Eastern Trails,” Maglov invites viewers to confront the complexities of existence, where the boundaries between life and death, permanence and dissolution, are rendered fluid and dynamic. His work offers a poignant reflection on the fragility of the human condition and the ways in which art can both capture and transform the essence of the ephemeral.
Carbon
Red Dot Gallery/ Sofia. Bulgaria
2019
Carbon is one of the few chemical elements known since antiquity. Its chemical symbol C is an abbreviation of the Latin Carbonium, from carbō – “charcoal.” It is a non-metal, appearing in several allotropic forms, the most well-known of which are graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon. Its physical properties vary greatly depending on the allotropic form. For example, diamond is extremely hard and transparent, while graphite is very soft and opaque.
Carbon is widely distributed in the Earth’s crust, primarily in limestones, dolomites, and as carbon dioxide, but also found in coal deposits, peat, and oil. In the Universe, it is the fourth most abundant element (by mass) after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen.
Carbon forms more chemical compounds than any other element. To date, over 10 million pure organic compounds have been described, which is only a small fraction of the theoretically possible ones.
It can be said that carbon is at the foundation of life. All living organisms are made up of organic molecules, which, in turn, are composed of carbon. All the cells that make up our bodies contain large amounts of this chemical element. One of the main reasons for this is the aforementioned ability of carbon to bond with other elements. There are other elements that can bond easily, but only carbon can bond with other carbon atoms to form long carbon chains and rings. Without this property, the DNA molecule would be impossible. Furthermore, most carbon molecules are stable (they do not spontaneously decompose), yet at the same time, they can form new compounds. It is likely that this complexity and flexibility of carbon is a prerequisite and possibility for the complexity and adaptability of life itself.
In this exhibition, carbon serves as a metaphor for life seen as “chemistry” in the broadest sense—interaction, reaction, combustion, transformation, change, exchange, consumption, expenditure, energetic phenomena, organization, self-organization, and the decay of matter… Ultimately, as the very possibility of life itself.
Carbon can also be interpreted as a model of the human being—constantly interconnected, giving and receiving energy from others, while still remaining true to itself and preserving its unique character. Just as carbon atoms form long chains, we, as people, connect with others and build/participate in networks, circles, etc., which transform, expand, contract, or disintegrate.
Thus, this exhibition is dedicated to this element, somewhat forgotten in everyday use, or simply to life itself in its diverse forms and manifestations.
Slav Nedev
