Time to read 4 min
Vasilena Gankovska, Bulgaria/Austria
Solo exhibition
Digital drawings and video animation
Vasilena Gankovska | Visual Transformations – solo exhibition, 2024, HOSTGALLERY
Digital drawings – prints on paper and Video animation 1:22 min., FullHD
The concept
In this exhibition, the artist turns to a new means of expression for her audience, namely the digital drawing. An important question that interests her is how a single image can be used to create at least several works of art. It must be stated that we are not talking about digital art here, but about the use of tools and programs to create an image that comes into use, and on different levels.
Vasilena Gankovska | Visual Transformations, 2024, HOSTGALLERY.
Untitled, 2023, series of 4 original drawings, 20x15cm, unframed
Vasilena Gankovska is known as an artist using different media like painting, drawing, ceramic object and text. In the „Digital Transformations“ series, both in the prints and in the video projections, she uses several ceramic objects that she created during a symposium as a starting point. The small sculptures serve as models for multiple drawings, which she transforms through applications, thus turning them into vector graphics that can be reproduced in different sizes and on different media.
The printed work acquires new qualities, becomes tactile and present in space.This work is based on technology while encouraging the creative process and experimentation.
Vasilena Gankovska | Visual Transformations, 2024, HOSTGALLERY.
Untitled, #3, 2024, digital print on paper, 60x40cm
Some critics argue that digital images can be perceived less authentically than traditional art forms because they do not involve the same hands-on interaction with physical materials. Despite these concerns, Gankovska is able to successfully carry out her visual transformations by transferring lines and planes of color from one medium to another.
By giving up upon the pictorial canvas or object, she also makes reference to another issue that is emerging more clearly to the artistic community, namely the question of the ecological aspect of the creative process.
Why are we talking about sustainable works here? The initial sketches or files are not affected by the weather and the environment. They can always be transferred to an analogue medium that is more or less sustainable. Files are distributed in a digital environment without the need for transport, packaging and logistics. The printing itself takes place “on site” in the city where the exhibition is to be presented, thus making use of available resources and without negatively affecting the environment.
(Vasilena Gankovska in collaboration with Boris Kostadinov)
Vasilena Gankovska | Visual Transformations, 2024, HOSTGALLERY.
Untitled, 2022, video animation, 1:22 min., Full HD
A brief biography
Vasilena Gankovska was born in 1978 in Troyan.
Since 2001 she lives in Vienna, where she works as a visual artist. She graduated in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (2006) and Ceramics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia (2001). There are numerous exhibitions and awards, in Vienna, Berlin, Sofia and Los Angeles, etc.
Selected exhibitions: PROJECT KINO KOSMOS, Scope BLN Berlin (2022), “In the blind spot of the picture”, Gallery +359 in the Water Tower Sofia (2022 ), “Multiple Singularities”, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2020), bleischwer (with Jelena Micic and Lara Erel), Fabrikraum, Vienna (2020), Contemporay News* Shepard Fairy meets Vasilena Gankovska, Hilger NEXT (2019), The Gift of Mr. Wittgenstein (with Boris Kostadinov), Bulgarian Cultural Institute “Wittgenstein House”, Vienna (2015).
In his artistic projects he deals with the various aspects of urban life, leisure and work and their spaces. Gankovska moves between different media such as painting, drawing, ceramics, text and installation. Her artistic explorations include city walks, dérives and short texts that accompany her so-called “visual notes”.