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until 12.07. | #4702ARTatBerlin | Galerie feinart berlin shows from 31. May 2025 the exhibition BEASTS by the artist Boriana Pertchinska.
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 hidden powers and inner demons. Leaping tigers, snake-like coiled dragons, fanged predatory fish – the inner being of a human being seems to have taken shape in all these animal creatures.
Boriana Pertchinska, Beasts I, 2023,
Left part: pigments, acrylic, charcoal, fire on paper
Right part: pigments, acrylic, chalk base on jute, diptych 130 x 170 cm, © B. Pertchinska
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.
The creation of the diptychs from two layers of one painting process is absolutely unusual. 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 style of the Old Masters, 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 in this phase as a base, like a deeper layer of skin, so to speak, which absorbs the seeping painting medium. Like a palimpsest whose message is wiped out.
Boriana Pertchinska, Ich habe Schmetterlinge im Bauch, 2019,
Left part: pigments, acrylic, chalk base on jute
Right part: pigments, acrylic, charcoal, fire on paper, diptych 80 x 120 cm, © B. Pertchinska
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 permanence to the content of this period. This creative-eclectic approach identifies her as a contemporary of a multiple, patchwork-like world that consciously plays with the polyphony of the global treasure trove of knowledge and tradition.
Boriana Pertchinska, Beasts III, 2023, Left part: pigments, acrylic, chalk base on jute
Right part: pigments, acrylic, charcoal, fire on paper, diptych 120 x 160 cm, © B. Pertchinska
Despite the realistic execution based on models, 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.
Boriana Pertchinska, Hin und Zurück, pigments and acrylic on wood, 2016,
15 elements 15 x 13,5 cm each, © B. Pertchinska
The list of her awards and scholarships includes Finalist ModPortrait 2025, organised by the ArteLibre Gallery and the Royal Circle of Artists of 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 (Titian’s birthplace), 2009 Special Prize at the 5th International Painting Exhibition of the University of Barcelona. Internationale d’Art Miniature Biennale-IAM, Centre d’exposition Louise-Carrier Quebec, 2002 competition victory at the international exhibition “100 Faces” of the 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, ì 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 Hall Raiko Aleksiev Sofia I Gallery Arossita Sofia I “Sredez”- Gallery of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture I K-Salon Berlin.
Opening: Saturday 31. May 2025, 6 – 9 pm. | 7 pm. official welcome
Exhibition dates: Saturday 31. May until Saturday 12. July 2025
Ending: Saturday 12. July 2025, 6 – 9 pm.
Artist talk: Saturday 21. June 2025, at 4 pm.
To the gallery
Title image caption: Boriana Pertchinska, Beasts V, 2023, Left part: pigments, acrylic, chalk base on jute / Right part: pigments, acrylic, charcoal, fire on paper, diptych 130 x 170cm, ©B.Pertchinska
Exhibition Boriana Pertchinska – Galerie feinart berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst Berlin – Contemporary Art – Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
