I was there

15 June - 3 July 2021

“I was there” summarizes all the themes in the exposition, which include specific personal impressions, experiences, and memories. For me, attaining emotional depth is unlikely outside my personal, familiar world. Focusing on contemporary, cross-cutting problems has always carried the risk of becoming cliched. That is why I choose the reality that surrounds me – the more banal it is, the greater the opportunity for diving below the surface of what is seen. A parking lot, a bend in the road, the girls by the shore, the past winter, or the boy in the water. In their static simplicity, I find the pursuit of happiness that makes us possible. The paintings are an attempt to slow down time and create an alternative to reality, where I may return again and again. Places where I have been and still want to be.

Veselin Nachev

Veselin Nachev was born in 1958 in Burgas, but he lives and works in Varna. He graduated from National Academy of Art in 1985.

The artist has had more than 30 solo exhibitions in Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia, including the Autumn Salon of Arts in Plovdiv, Art 36 Gallery and Stubel Gallery in Sofia, and City Art Gallery, gallery-museum Georgi Velchev, Gallery 8 and Art Meeting Gallery in Varna.

Veselin Nachev has participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as Reality Disputed curated by Stanislav Pamukchiev (Shipka 6 Gallery, Sofia), Scale Social curated by Ilian Lalev (City Art Gallery, Veliko Tarnovo), the project Air by Andrej Daniel (Shipka 6 Gallery), Solitary Pursuits in the AFA Center for Contemporary Art in New York, Bulgarian Art in China, and many more.

In 2017, Veselin Nachev was awarded Allianz Bulgaria’s national award for painting and two years later – the national award “Zacharii Zograf”.

“I was there” is Veselin Nachev’s third exhibition in Stubel Gallery.