Biography
Michail Michailov is born in 1978 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, living and working in Vienna and Paris. He studied at the Faculty of Visual Arts in Veliko Tarnovo (1999-2004) and Art History at the University of Vienna (2002-2007). From 2006-2009 he was working in cooperation with the Artist Group Gelitin. 2007 he participated in the Sommerakademie “Situation and Spectacle” at the Paul Klee Centre, Bern (lecturer: Cerith Wyn Evans). Besides several residences and awards he got the Drawing Now Paris Art Award 2018, the Austrian State Scholarship for visual art 2017 and the Austrian graphic award/ lower austria 2015. In 2022 he represented Bulgaria at the Venice Bienalle with the exhibition "There You Are" curated by Irina Batkova.
Selected exhibitions
Symbols & Icons, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, Vienna (2022); Future Unforgettable – Phase III Under Deconstruction, Sarieva Gallery, Sofia (2021); Nagi Contemporary Arts Project, Nagi MOCA and Gallery Fixa, Nagi (2021); a brief affair, 5020 Gallery, Salzburg (2021); Natura artis magistra#2, Gallery Jeune Création, Paris (2021); Self-brainwashing, +359Gallery (solo exhibition), Sofia (2021); Virusological, SCOPE BLN/LIGHT YEAR, Berlin/NY (2021); Кeeps falling on my head, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, (solo exhibition), Vienna (2021); Gloss over, re.riddle, (solo exhibition), San Francisco (2021); EN ETRE/Jeun Creation 70, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris (2020); Falling Up, re.riddle/Ars Electronica, Linz (2020); Cruel Summer Camp, Exile gallery, Vienna(2020); Craving nothing, Structura gallery, Sofia (2020); Round squares, LLLLLLI, (solo exhibition), Vienna (2020); Dripping ceiling, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, (solo exhibition), Vienna (2019); Pour the Line, re.riddle/Abacus Row, San Francisco (2019); La mascarade du chemin du mauvais pas sous la rose, Cabane Georgina, Marseille (2019); Partie de campagne, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2019); headspacing#3, Drawing Now Art Fair, Paris (2019); ROOM FOR FALIURE, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami (2019); I am everywhere, Drawing Lab Paris,(solo exhibition), Paris (2019); Dust to dust, Untitled, re.riddle, (solo exhibition), San Francisco (2019); Best of 20 Years, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, Vienna (2019); headspacing#2, FLUCA, Austrian Cultural Pavilion, Sofia (2018); Money in the art, Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg (2018); BONE 20 performance art festival, Bern (2017); Let them draw II(drawing and withdrawing), Sariev Contemporary, Plovdiv (2017); Images in Language and the Language of Images, Dom Museum, Vienna (2017); You want Truth or Beauty, Kunsthalle Nexus, Salzburg (2017); Wien von oben. Die Stadt auf einen Blick, Wien Museum, Vienna (2017); Abbild::Realität!?, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, Vienna (2017); The Observatory, Special Astrophysical Observatory, Karachay-Cherkess Republic (2016); The Chicken Thief, Sotheby's,(solo exhibition), Vienna (2016); 34.Austrian graphic award, Gallery in Taxispalais, Innsbruck (2015); Take off your shoes II, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, (solo exhibition), Vienna (2014); The Dignity of Man, The Brno Haus of Arts, Brno (2014); Absolut Vienna, Wien Museum, Vienna (2012); Transltion is a mode, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna (2010); Blickwechsel. Österreichische Fotografie Heute, Westlicht, Vienna (2010); Value point, Hilger Contemporary, Vienna (2009); Austria contemporary, Essl Museum, Austria, Klosterneuburg (2008); Situation and Spectacle, Paul Klee Centre, Bern (2007).
Gallery
Галерия
Michail Michailov
Headspacing#1, 2018.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: Hannes Anderle
- Description: in "headspacing" I am becoming my own exhibtion space in my mind and my reality. I am questioning "who am I" involving the question where does my body end-is my body connected to the mind and isn´t it already me, whatever interacts with me consciously/unconsciously. Is the the house I am living in or the exhibition space I am entering already part of my body? are the human beings I am surrounded with part of me? If I create something, how is it connected with me or my body. when design/architecture interacts with me, is it already part of me in that moment? What is the goal to strengthen my own views, spaces and connections and where is it leading me to.
- Copyright: Michail Michailov
Michail Michailov
Dust to dust, 2017.
Drawing
Details
- Photographer: Sariev Contemporary
- Material: coloured pencil on paper
- Description: The series of drawings dust to dust connects several of Michail Michailovs works, which he realised in different forms and media and suits the important questions of life and existence the artist poses himself. He connects the issue of inner purity - as a condition to achieve perfection - with the external cleaning of his rooms and surrounding. So inner and outer cleansing are artistically rendered.
The series shows dust and dirt like in a nature study. In the beginning he just used the automatically appearing dust bunnies in his atelier/studio as model for this pictures, meanwhile he graphically transforms stains and spots out of his immediate surroundig such as bath or kitchen.
The process of drawing takes nearly as long as, or longer as the development of the dirt itself and therefore becomes sort of a mediative contemplaption contrasting the active awareness of the artist with the uncoscious developement of dirt and stains. This way this undesirable meaningless phenomenon/effect takes on a whole new significance. The unconscious gets into awareness, things unlikely to be seen become visible. The high level of drawing effort, which is necessary for this reproduction, playfully raises questions of meaning and value of man and art.
The drawings are presented as an installation within an especially created frame out of skirting boards and can be exhibited hanging on the wall as well as lying on the floor. Dust and dirt, very common to everybody but also repelling and easily overlooked, open up to new perspectives when displayed as a drawing. The aesthetics are only made clear by hanging them on the wall. Relating them to naturally developed dirtstains the spectator gets a new perception and another view on things. The handpainted microcosmos is supposed to provoke thought and enable new associations.
