Biography
Spartak Dermendjiev (born 1954 in Sofia), known by his artistic name Paris, is a multidisciplinary artist who works with figurative sculpture, portrait and digital and virtual installation. In 1982 Dermendjiev graduated from the National Academy of Art in sculpture. Member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists – UBA since 1985. He lives and works in Sofia. Dermendjiev’s exhibitions have social messages like “The Sin as an Official Ideology”, “The Human and the Society as a Two Way Street”, “The art creates idealists, whereas the life kills them”, “Cynicism, born out of despair and impasse - a refuge for the average person”, “Replacing truth and the Social Engineering”, “Slander as the main building block of society” and others. The vulgar and the cynical become the basic aesthetic categories in the art of Dermendjiev. 1985 Award for the sculpture “Breaking the Idols”, VII National Youth Exhibition, Sofia, Bulgaria 1987 Award for the cycle “Venus”, 7th Small Sculpture Biennale, Budapest, Hungary 2003 Award for exhibition “Don Quixote Has Died”, Ikar Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria 2014 Awarded The Iron Medal for Contemporary Art for his moral and social engagement in the Bulgarian processes in the past two decades with his exhibitions “Bulgaria Whore Totalitarian” (1997) - political-pornography exhibition, Stulbata Gallery; “There Are No Happy Bulgarians” (2000), Sofia City Art Gallery; “Fin du Monde” (2013), The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate "Andrey Nikolov” and for his initiative and project for the Georgi Markov Statue in Journalist Square (a virtual project that raised attention in the social media).
About
Actually, it seems to me that Dermendjiev's sculpture does not need to be defended simply because it has reached such a degree of plastic expression which itself answers all. Dermendjiev is a sculptor of the feminine body in a state of physiological insanity."
- Ruen Ruenov, 1999
Spartak Dermendjiev is a sculptor who does not place himself over the object. He has a marked mimetic, emotional and sincere sense of it. His style is not a precondition, but is a consequence of the artist's dialogue with visibility. It is this live, somehow chaotic, sensual attitude that makes his pursuits successful.
- Ruen Ruenov, 2001
The least that could be said about Spartak is that he is consistent in his artistic interest. From the virtuoso of the exquisite sculpture, through the master of the artistic drawing, the hunter of the erratic ego of the eternal lad and the infamous destroyer of aesthetic and verbal norms, today he returns again with the challenge of surprise, in a completely unexpected direction ...
- Philip Zidarov, 2003
Most of Dermendjiev's work are often described as pornographic. The truth is that the "stripping” in his case should be understood as an openness, which addresses avoided themes and images. In fact, the sculptor always comes from a deeper philosophical layer to express his attitude to society and, in particular, to modern man. Brilliant as a plasticist, he is not satisfied with the simple reflection of reality, but always seeks to express some social message.
- Svetla Petkova, 2014
It seems that the sculptor was doomed to fight endless battles even when he was given his birth name (Spartak is Spartacus in Bulgaria, Ed.). And while he later adopted the more peaceful alias Paris, Spartak remains a solitary gladiator.
- Mariana Svetoslavova, 2015
Spartak Dermendjiev is an outstanding Bulgarian sculptor working on the edge of “the conceptual” thought process, but never a hundred percent in it. Irony and self-irony are his main weapon. If you like the metaphor “The Shakespeare of the Form”, then you have understood it.
- Svetlozar Petkov, 2018
Gallery
Spartak Dermendjiev
Transition Monument, 2015.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Spartak Dermendjiev
- Material: iron
- Width: 25.00 m Height: 5.00 m Depth: 25.00 m
- Property of: the author
- Description: Transition Monument (virtual) exposed on 10 November 2015 Sofia. in place of the mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov
This is not a monument of a historical personality or event.
This is a monument of a period, the period that began 26 years ago and called Transition.
This is a monument to the time we live in.
Whether we like it or not, this is the transition.
This is our Transition.
And this is my monument (project)
My Monument to Our Transition - Copyright: the author
Spartak Dermendjiev
"The columns that support the sky" or "The temple of Venus", 2014.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Spartak Dermendjiev
- Material: white baked clay
- Width: 240.00 cm Height: 150.00 cm Depth: 240.00 cm
- Property of: the author
- Description: Since the dawn of its existence humanity has asked questions.
Who created the world and how was it created? The earth, Sun? Stars? What upholds the earth?
Who created man and how was he created? The plants? What comes after death?
Questions about the creation of the work, man and nature, life and death.
Over the centuries, the answers are different, but the questions, the questions are one and the same.
The longer ago the time, the more the answers approach legends and myths--The more exciting and poetic they become.
But it seems as if there is one question man has forgotten to ask.
Maybe because everyone knows the answer.
Or because through the centuries the answer is one and the same?
Or because there isn’t an answer to this question?
The answer is tied to the sense of life, to hope, to the desire for life.
The answer: What holds up the sky?
I am neither competent enough nor confident enough with words to answer this question!
Therefore I propose a plastic image, a plastic answer
This, my plastic composition (sculptural installation) called “The Columns Which Hold UP the Sky or the Temple of Venus” gives my answer: What holds up the sky.
Spartak Dermendjiev 2014
Spartak Dermendjiev
"Wall in the Sky", 2011.
Painting
Details
- Photographer: Spartak Dermendjiev
- Material: acrylic on canvas
- Width: 300.00 cm Height: 200.00 cm Depth: cm
- Property of: the author
- Description: for the battles not ours
but those which chose us and called us
battles without victors
for the life which we did not live
a life needlessly worn
for our life
for the past and the present
years we want to forget
if we were able to forgive
Spartak Dermendjiev 2011
Spartak Dermendjiev
„Fin du Monde“ performance, 2013.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Spartak Dermendjiev
- Material: acrylic on canvas
- Width: 130.00 cm Height: 300.00 cm Depth: cm
- Property of: the author
- Description: "When you have been waiting but the time is up ...
when you have been screaming but have remained unheard ...
when you have been pushing but nothing has been changed ...
when you have been crying but no one has been moved ...
when you do not have a place ...
when you cannot take the world as it is ...
when you do not even ask why ...
Then you have reached the "End of the World"
Spartak Dermendjiev 2013 - Copyright: the author
Spartak Dermendjiev
"Venus in real size", 1989.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Deni Krastev - archive UBA
- Material: gypsum
- Width: 57.00 cm Height: 167.00 cm Depth: 30.00 cm
- Property of: Sofia City Art Gallery
- Description: “The theme of my works is Sin. Not the Sinful human nature, but Sin as an official ideology (social practice).
The underlying idea is to show cynicism as the refuge of the weak and defenseless human being, the sole possibility for men to accept life.
These sculptures confess our inability to distinguish (our unwillingness and helplessness to differentiate) between good and evil, truth and untruth, sin and righteousness.
I wanted to present the moral values as a sort of “landslide”.
Hopeless and thoughtless lead to cynicism. Vulgarity and triteness can transform into basic aesthetic category.
By means of cynicism and triteness I am referring to:
- the infantilism of “good”;
- the universality of “evil”;
- our need to believe in untruth;
- our inability to accept the truth;
- the transformation of the vulgar into the beautiful;
My works are not directed against woman, they are not directed against Sin. They are about Sin.”
Spartak Dermendjiev - PARIS