Stefan Nikolaev

Stefan Nikolaev was born in Bulgaria in 1970 and studied at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. He now lives and works between Paris and Sofia. He founded in 1997 the Parisian space named Glassbox, of which he is also co-director. Living between Paris and Sofia, the artist exhibited at the Center for Contemporary Art in Glasgow in 2006 and presented his exhibition “Bad Lux” the same year in Nantes, focusing on the themes of nostalgia and disappearance.

Stefan Nikolaev’s work is largely imbued with his dual cultural background, which is why it manifests itself through an aesthetic of discrepancy.

Stefan Nikolaev absorbs the codes that govern our current society, invaded by identical logos and signs everywhere. His art has a dual character, it is a synthesis of minimal art and Pop Art, blending economy of means and vibrant colors.

In the manner of a contemporary Andy Warhol, Stefan Nikolaev appropriates images from mass culture to create his luminous still lifes. He develops a vocabulary of objects and brands, seeking to capture the chaotic atmosphere of duty-free zones, those exchange spaces where cultures and histories intersect in suspended time.

Assembling neons made of Murano glass and hammered copper supports, the artist creates object-sculptures. He aims to go beyond the “Pop” aesthetic by not simply magnifying the mass-produced object, also by giving it functionality. The artist plays with references by merging various pictorial universes and temporalities.