Stoyan Dechev

Recent works

King, 2017,bronze with gold electrolize, 30 x 21 x 5 cm.

Sculptor 1, 2016, granite, 180 x 220 x 340 cm.

SculptorThe relationship between stones and sky might have been observed from the early times of humanity and stone carving has always been spiritually related to the celestial activity.In the “Sculptor” project, the ancient activity of stone carving, that consists in the controlled removal of stone material (clear evidence of some form of stone work can be found even in the earliest societies), is put forward in an attempt to observe and reinforce the intense physical and mental labor of such work. Until recently celestial maps showed allegorical figures which encompassed the imagination of people, related to the form the constellations were perceived from different regions of the planet. “The Sculptor” was created by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, a French astronomer, originally as “L’Atelier du sculpteur” (Apparatus sculptoris), situated on the southern sky. It was shortened in 1845 to “Sculptor”. The transposition of the “Sculptor” constellation into a large granite stone, remembering a meteorite, is a process of restitution using ancestral sculpting methods: drilling, cutting, breaking. This process is also reminding the fact that each stone potentially contains an infinity of forms and that only the creator (the Sculptor) can reveal one or more of them, and the rest is transformed into dust. The rock, the plans, the map schemes, the tools and rock remains can be seen through the perspective of knowledge or the intuitive sense of understanding. The different perspective and perception of the sculpting action and process, in time and space, facilitate new meaning and purpose, expanding the field of ‘here and there’ and narrowing it in the same time.Sculpture as an artifact can connect imaginary and materiality, inducing the idea that everything is made out of stardust - a scientific, philosophical and poetical debate.The strange feeling of looking in the past as well as in the future, through As-tronomy and Astrology, of star observation is why we are still fascinated by the wildly unknown cosmos. Prehistoric megalith observatories, menhirs, dolmens or cromlechs reveal the importance of astronomical observation in all societies, a fatal topic important no matter of time and energy, limitations or even human life costs. The work is looking at this from a contemporary perspective, in the search for a meaning, realizing the crisis of the rational intellect, with the belief that all mys-teries can be understood through rational reasons and scientific methods - an idea introduced by Galilei.

Sculptor 1, 2017, working process

Water Tower, Garden Mechanics, 2016, Tranzit Garden Bucharest, wood, tin, barrel and irrigation pipes, 350/150/150 cm.Water Tower, Garden Mechanics, 2017, ink, pencil and tempera, on paper, 21/ 29.5 cm.

Garden Mechanics (2016-2017) is observing different occurring organic, mechanic and social structures of the garden. A project in colabora-tion with Olivia Mihaltianu

Trophy, 2016, aluminum, 70/150/30 cm.

Icon, 2016, wood, gold leaf, 75/45/8 cm.

Engolpion, 2016, marble (Sandansky, Thassos, Estrremoz and Velingrad), graphite, concrete, 60 / 25 / 20 cm.

Playfly, Full HD, 6min, 2016

PlayflyA work inspired by the children game of flying paper planes, a game that fills spare time gaps or makes time gaps built on wishful thinking.This innocent game, grown on the fascination of their engineering and the ability to defy gravity, can turn obsessive and dangerous, destruc-tive and addictive as material means grow on.The film is part of a larger project including performance, sculpture and video works focused on aviation culture and related ideas, filtered by the artist personal experience and knowledge of planes from paper, to gliders and jets.The animation illustrates the game: a hand is making a plane from a A4 paper which is the actual screen of the film and launches it in the air, the process is repeated until the space is covered by landed planes.The animation imitates the labor consuming time of this game, stressing it by the even more consuming work of drawing the action frame by frame, with an approximation of 2500 drawings.

https://vimeo.com/164916865 pass: asd345f

Sculpture project, Iridium 77, 2105, (porcelain, Iridium black glaze)

Iridium 77 (2015, work in progress) a project set on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, the first part of an extended rock surveillance. A project in colaboration with Olivia MihaltianuThis artistic visual research aims to look at different aspects and behaviors related to rocks; to explore different geological formations in connection with the local history, social, economic, political, cultural and scientific specificity, starting from this very location where traces of iridium and fossils can demonstrate the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, the demise of the dinosaurs juxtaposed with the new social economical boom of the area.

Iridium 77, 2015, video stills, Full HD

Dendrochronology attempt (Byala), 2015, wood, paint, 430/140/120 cm.Collection of The City of Byala, Bulgaria

Dendrochronology attempt (Byala)

The wood work commissioned by the city of Byala is directly referring to Byala’s unique landscape which offers a natural stratigraphic exposure making visible layers dating back as late as Mesozoic Era.Dendrochronology is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings. This technique is used to determine certain aspects of climate, archeology, art history and architecture.

Dendrochronology attempt (Ahtopol), 70 Years, 2016, wood, steel, 250/85/80 cm. Collection of Ahtopol City Gallery, Bulgaria

Dendrochronology attempt (Ahtopol) 70 Yearsis continuing the artistic research based on the sci-entific method of Dendrochronology.The 70 year old tree (the average lifetime of a man) is put side by side next to the millions of year old rocky formations of the Black Sea shore.

Reserved, 2015, metal, wood, 400/160/160 cm.

Reserved is a site specific installation consisting of a thin wire delimitation of 400/160/160cm, seen as a free pass for creation - delimited of any confines of age, gender, nationality, social, po-litical and economic position in the contemporary art discourse.

Reserved, 2015, metal, wood, 400/160/160 cm.

Another bodyA work made of three components, pictogram men placed in a strong relation according to the exhibition space.The sculptures give a general simplified image of a man, in different possible situations: life and after life.Making use of simple symbols such as pictograms - a generalized image which could represent each person without personifying him or her - that are so often directing our lives in public spaces nowadays, the works try to have an immediate impact.Made from bread, marble and metal plasma cuts in striking patterns they are referring to a scientific view, biology, physiology, medicine, of our human body, but common beliefs about life on earth as part of an eternal life arise as well.

Preparatory drawing for Another body, bread, marble and metal, 2016, 100/30 cm.

Artificial Skin, 2015, charcoal on paper, 185/80 cm.

Artificial Skin is an autobiographic project inspired by the working garments of the artist, seen as a second skin which has borrowed some of the energy and features of the artist as it is molded and worn out on the working body. A glove made of granite five times bigger than the real size and an overalls made of pink silicon in real size are the two components of the project.

Artificial Skin, 2015, Vaska Emanouilova, Sofia Art Gallery, Bulgaria.

Artificial Skin, 2015, silicon, 185/80 cm.

Artificial Skin, 2015, granit, 135/80 cm. Collection of Sofia City Art Gallery, Bulgaria

Black Sea, 2014, ink, tempera, zinc on paper, 86/180 cm.

Meteorite, 2014, ink on paper, 180/86 cm.

Disposable, 2012, acrilic, spray on paper, 20/15 cm.

Smoking Kills, 2014, ballpoint pen on paper, 40/40 cm.

DisposableThe project is looking at the discarded items of our society: wrap-pers, containers, packaging, etc., parts of the single use mental-ity that rules our consumer society. The aesthetic value of these enlarged dead objects, which can be seen as artifacts of the Antropocene Age, is forcing the ques-tioning of the economic, social, cultural and political forces that are producing them.

Disposable, 2013, porcelain, 40/25/25 cm.

Disposable, 2013, porcelain, 40/25/25 cm.

Disposable, 2013, porcelain, 40/25/25 cm.

Disposable, 2013, concrete, 135/80/80 cm.

Disposable, 2013, plastic bin, lights, 95/60/50 cm.

Negative purification, 2014, withe grant, 550/110/110 см. Collection of Mosan Art Museum, Korea.

Negative purification - A a 6 meter granite block carved negatively in a stereo metrical crystal like structure. The purification process of crystallization is a scientific, philosophical and aesthetic phenomenon, observed through the physical and meditative labor of stone carving.

Negative purification, 2014, working process, withe grant, 550/110/110 cm.

Captured Light, 2010, concrete and raw glass, 37/37/37 cm.

Captured Light, an installation of six concrete cubes with raw lighted glass inside, is a hint to raw man - made materials who are shaping our world today, through architecture, in an attempt to capture the natural light and bring nature closer to man.

Crystal, 2006, Krakra Pernishky Square, Pernik, Bulgaria, granite and glass, 300/100/100 cm.

Grass, 2008, steel and bronze, 40/2500/2500 cm. Collection of M-tel, Sofia, Bulgaria

Kitchen Disaster, Collision, 2007, alluminium, 65/45/130 cm.

Kitchen Disaster is looking at life stories as still life. The aluminum works show borderline situations which anticipate upcoming and subse-quent events. The work follows the permanent dilemmas of everyday life.

Kitchen Disaster, Hesitation, 2007, alluminium, 90/90/90 cm.

One of a Kind - Army Monument, 2013, steel and bronze, 140/140/140 cm. Bul. Rakovski/ str. Gurko, Sofia, Bulgaria