Opening reception
Saturday 31. Mai 18:00-21:00 | 19:00 Official welcome speech and a-capella performance by Terzenbrecher

Beasts. They are to be feared, they are wild, powerful, strange, scary and banished from the safe haven of civilisation. Is it because of a dark, ancient relationship that humans have always been fascinated by them? Born in Sofia in 1974 and based in Berlin since 2012, artist Boriana Pertchinska reinterprets the mythological and symbolically charged animal creatures that appear in her works: „beasts“ as embodiments of inner demons. Leaping tigers, snake-like coiled dragons, fanged predatory fish — in all these animal creatures, the inner being of a human being seems to have taken shape.

In terms of form and content, the artist works with bipolarity. Most of her works are diptychs, i.e. double images. In the inner space of each double image mirrored on the central axis, a dialogue is created between the two sides. The full meaning of each work of art is only revealed through the exciting communication between the parts. The principle of formal circularity and the unity of two limbs, explicitly visible in the painting „Drehung/ Janus“ (2022), is reminiscent of the Uruboros, an image of the eternal cycle of life and matter known since Neolithic times, often symbolised in the motif of the snake devouring its own tail. The Uroboros symbolises the idea that good and evil, negative and positive are driving forces of the same dynamic.

Absolutely exceptional is the creation of the diptychs from two layers of one painting process. The polarity that characterises all of Boriana Pertchinska's works is still preserved in the finale: on the one hand, the painting on linen in the form of a central figure formulated in the Old Master style, and on the other, the figure's likeness as a drawing on paper. Each work begins with the elaborate preparation of a chalk ground on rough linen as the basis for the painting. What later becomes the second wing of the work as paper still functions as a base in this phase, like a deeper layer of skin, so to speak, which absorbs the seeping painting medium. Like a palimpsest whose message is wiped away.

The artist, who completed her Master of Arts in mural painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts Sofia in 1999, demonstrates her masterly, realistic skills in the formulation of people, animals and floral elements using classical painting techniques with pigment and egg tempera. In the tradition of fresco and panel painting from the 14th to 17th centuries, the paintings display colourful brilliance, depth and a symbolic patina. The technical complexity of the works is an expression of the complexity of the themes treated. At the centre is the view of man as a being in a constant state of change, who must maintain a balance between physical and psychological needs, between reason and emotion, social norms, societal rules and individual desires. Against this background, it seems logical that the artist has discovered fire as a material for herself. The candle flame burns the linen, leaving behind the trace of possible destruction.

Boriana Pertchinska combines contemporary with timeless content, traditional with contemporary techniques in all her works. In this way, she endeavours to lend depth and duration to the content of this time. This creative-eclectic approach identifies her as a contemporary of a multiple, patchwork-like world who consciously plays with the polyphony of the global treasure trove of knowledge and tradition.

Despite the realistic, model-based execution, Boriana Pertchinska does not see her depictions of people as portraits. In the process from the model to the finished result, each personality grows beyond itself and gains a supra-individual validity with the iconic face. While the faces of the people appear passive and introverted, their animalistic companions, bursting with colour, seethe with explosive power. In them, something pent-up seems to want to gain visibility and space. It seems as if only the animal creatures are able to articulate the souls of humans and give expression to what wants to be heard here. — Interestingly, only the little girl's companion in „Karussel“ (2022) is not a beast but a rocking horse. The child does not yet need a beast.

About the artist

Boriana Pertchinska was born in Sofia in 1974. From 1988 to 1993 she studied in Sofia at the National School of Fine Arts ‘Ilia Petrov’ and from 1993 to 1999 at the National Academy of Fine Arts, where she graduated in 1999 with a Master of Arts in Mural Painting. 
 Her list of awards and scholarships includes Finalist ModPortrait 2025, organised by the ArteLibre Gallery and the Royal Circle of Artists Barcelona, 2024 International Prize in the category „Painting“ TIZIAN INTERNATIONAL PORTRAIT COMPETITION, organised by the Titian Foundation and Sheng Xin Yu Art, Forte di Monte Ricco, Pieve di Cadore (birthplace of Titian), 2009 Special Prize at the 5. Internationale d'Art Miniature Biennale-IAM, Centre d'exposition Louise-Carrier Quebec, 2002 competition victory at the international exhibition „100 Faces“ of UNESCO/IAA Heidelberg, 2000 award „Young Bulgarian Artists“ of the Association of Bulgarian Visual Artists as well as 1996, 1997 and 1998 national scholarship „Open Society Foundation“.
Since 1997 Boriana Pertchinska has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Malta, Canada, Italy, Croatia and Taiwan, including: Royal Circle of Artists Barcelona | Titian International Portrait Competition prizewinner, Forte di Monte Ricco | 73rd and 74th BAYREUTHER KUNSTACH. BAYREUTHER KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG, Neues Schloss der Eremitage Bayreuth | PSYCHE, Amedeo Modigliani Foundation Rome I NordArt 2022 | National Gallery Sofia I Bulgarian Cultural Institute Berlin, Budapest, Rome I Stiftung Starke Berlin I National Exhibition Centre „Shipka 6“ Sofia I Galerie feinart berlin I Kultur Modell Passau I ‘Internationale d'Art Miniature’ Biennale Quebec I Saal Raiko Aleksiev Sofia I Galerie Arossita Sofia I „Sredez“- Gallery of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture I K-Salon Berlin

Opening reception
Thursday 11. September 18:00-21:00 | 19:00 Laudation by Dr. Stefan Winter, Professor of Theory and Practice of Aesthetics, Artistic Research and History of Science