Biography
Milko Pavlov was born in 1956 in the town of Aytos. His family moved to Sofia in 1961. After a brief period of hesitation in 1976, he decided not to enrol in the Academy of Arts and, over the following few years, attended private lessons with various teachers.
He first took part in a collective exhibition of the Union of Bulgarian Artists in 1983, presenting watercolours and oil paintings. In 1988, he was awarded a Diploma at the Fourth International Competition for Young Artists in Sofia. His earliest graphics also date from that time. In the years immediately following 1989, Pavlov became a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists (1990) and was among the co-founders of the Forever Young Artists Club.
This period also saw him active in Western Europe, winning an ARTEST scholarship from the BINZ 39 Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland. Between 1991 and 1995, he was also the Bulgarian coordinator of ARTEST. In 1996, he became a member of the International Graphic Society, Krakow, Poland. This international exchange also led to several group exhibitions such as BG+CH=IZLOJBA=AUSSTELLUNG, at the Sredets Gallery of the Ministry of Culture, Sofia, and Hermetic/Chaotic, at Shipka 6 Gallery, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia. Bulgarian Art Book, ATA Center for Contemporary Art, Sofia.
In 1999, Pavlov began living and working in both Bremen and Sofia, and since 2008 his life has been shared between Berlin and Sofia. He presents his work on a global scale, holding exhibitions in Sofia, Bremen, California, Ratingen, Berlin, San Sebastian and other places. His career progression has been remarked upon in a number of Bulgarian, English and German publications, and his works are to be found in numerous collections, including those of the National Art Gallery, Sofia; Sofia City Art Gallery; St Matthew Foundation, Berlin, Germany; City Gallery, Bremen, Germany; Art in Public Space Collection, Bremen, Germany; Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, Germany; Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kanagawa Arts Foundation, Yokohama, Japan; and the collection of the International Graphic Society, Krakow, Poland.
About
Milko Pavlov paints places and subjects far from the everyday life of the present. The painterly abstraction in his canvases relies primarily on colour. In his early years, he learned from Bulgarian painters, mainly from the Tryavna School, a town where he spent time in his childhood. His individual approach renounces figuration in ideologised socialist realism and abandons the iconography that influenced his colour palette, with works that are intertwined between graphics and painting, where patiently applied layers of oil paint and his well known frottages build the visual space. The titles of his works refer to events that are about to take place or that have already occurred somewhere far in the future.
Gallery
Milko Pavlov
BILD VON 2117/6, 2021.
Painting
Details
- Material: Oil on canvas
- Width: 180.00 cm Height: 240.00 cm Depth: cm
Milko Pavlov
p. f. 2094, 2021.
Painting
Details
- Material: Oil on canvas
- Width: 176.00 cm Height: 205.00 cm Depth: cm
Milko Pavlov
View from FACIES, 2020.
Photography
Details
- Description: FACIES, Stiftung St. Matthäus. Berlin, 2020
Milko Pavlov
Recently Ahead, 2021.
Photography
Details
- Description: Exhibtion at One gallery, Sofia.
18. 10 - 15. 11. 2022
