Biography
Desislava Unger was born 1980 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She lives and works in Vienna, Austria. She studied painting at the National Art Academy, Sofia, where she received the BA degree in 2005. She graduated from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna in 2010 (MA degree in Graphics). Among various accolades, she was nominated for Strabag Artaward International (2015, 2016, 2017), for the Walter Koschatzky Kunstpreis (2015, 2013), for BAZA award for contemporary art in 2015, for the Gaudenz B. Ruf Award in 2011. She has participated in numerous solo und group exhibitions like: Versuch, zu verschwinden / Parallel Vienna Gallery Ortner 2 (2016)(s); Gelandet auf einem Baum, Start Gallery in MUSA, Vienna (2012)(s); Schwein gehabt, Customer Center of Bank Austria, Vienna (2012)(s); Her work was represented in some important shows such as: Ästhetik der Veränderung, 150 years University of Applied Arts, MAK Vienna (2017); Bulgarian Artists in Vienna, Contemporary Practices at the beginning of the 21st Century, Sofia City Art Gallery (2013); Contemporary Icons – recent art from Bulgaria, Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, St. Louis , USA (2012). She has paricipated in many graphic Triennials and Biennials, for example: The 6th Ulsan International Woodcut Print Art Festival; 41 Premio internacional de arte Grafico Carmen Arozena, Madrid; International Print Trienniale, Krakow; Internationale Triennale für Grafik, IMPRINT, Warschau etc. Desislava Unger´s works are part of collections such as: Albertina / Graphic Collection Vienna ; Collection of the City of Vienna, MUSA ; Artothek of the Federal Government, 21 er Haus; University of Applied Arts, Vienna ; National Art Gallery, Sofia; International Foundation "St. St. Cyril and Methodius " Sofia.
About
I work in the fields of drawing and graphic, mostly woodcut and silkscreen. My goal is a simple image. My interest is directed solely at the person, the experience, the suffering, the feeling. Landscapes and interiors are only the formal means of revealing the presence, absence or trace left by human. I am telling stories, which I do not know.
- Desisava Unger
Desislava Unger´s prints are a reminder of the power of surrealist suggestion, as in Georges Bataille´s notion of informe, they are not without form, but rather formless as an absence of specific sensation or signification. These disquieting, emotional images intimate the scenes of a fragmented world lost somwhere between time and place. Unger uses prints as a storyteller, weaving together images of family struggle and societies caught within an urban / rural split, a psychological conflict of pitting the real and the imaginary as equal. Working in series, Unger´s narratives have an economy of visual information that intensifies the evocative sentiment.
- Jeffrey Hughes
Gallery
Desislava Unger
Landed on a tree, 2012.
Graphics
Details
- Photographer: Desislava Unger
- Material: Woodcut printed on wood
- Width: 120.00 cm Height: 128.00 cm Depth: cm
- Property of: Collection of the Department for Cultural Affairs of the City of Vienna
Desislava Unger
Home, 2014.
Graphics
Details
- Photographer: Peter Hoiss
- Material: Woodcut on Japanese paper
- Width: 180.00 cm Height: 126.00 cm Depth: cm
- Property of: Desislava Unger
Desislava Unger
Exhibition "Mödling Architectures"- Black Tower, 2015.
Graphics
Details
- Photographer: Desislava Unger
- Material: Woodcut printed on wood
- Width: 170.00 cm Height: 220.00 cm Depth: cm
- Sizes: Each work consists of 16 parts.
- Property of: Municipality Mödling
- Description: Two works placed in the so called "Blind windows" of a private house.
Desislava Unger
Not a whole person, 2016.
Book
Details
- Photographer: Desislava Unger
- Material: Drawing - pencil, acrylic, pastel pencils, ink on wood
- Width: 20.00 cm Height: 24.00 cm Depth: 23.00 cm
- Sizes: Leporello book, 26 pages
- Property of: Private collection
Desislava Unger
Obsessed, 2016.
Drawing
Details
- Photographer: Peter Hoiss
- Material: Fineliner (pigment liner), acrylic, ink on paper
- Width: 65.00 cm Height: 42.00 cm Depth: cm
- Property of: Desislava Unger
- Description: Part of the series "Obsessed", consisting of six drawings.
- Copyright: Desislava Unger