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Peter Mintchevartworks 2009-2011

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At S eaThe project “At Sea” is inspired by 19th century political cartoons I stumbled upon

around 10 years ago, while looking at a history of the Balkans during the Berlin

Congress of 1878. Most of these cartoons represented a similar scenario: a number of

animals (each one representing a respective country) engaged in some sort of physi-

cal fight or confrontation. Even though the animals were not specifically labeled, the

meaning of the cartoons was still clear to me without any need for additional refer-

ence.

With the project “At Sea” I decided to juxtapose the symbolic meaning of the animal

as a national symbol, with a realistic representation of actual animals photographed

in the Varna City Zoo. I thought that there one could find a very different under-

standing of how we define the nature of an animal. To further dramatise the relation-

ship between the different selected zoo animals, I decided to paint each one on top of

a flag from the International Maritime Signaling System. These relationships between

symbolic and realistic representation thus also required a metaphorical stage, which

is provided by an image of a large concrete sculptural map of the Black Sea, situated

near the Varna Zoo.

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Letter Flags (with ICS meaning)

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1. A (Alfa) “I have a diver down; keep well clear at slow speed.”

2. B (Bravo) “I am taking in, or discharging, or car-rying dangerous goods.” (Originally used by the Royal Navy specifically for military explosives.)

3. C (Charlie) “Affirmative.”

4. D (Delta) “Keep clear of me; I am maneuvering with difficulty.”

5. E (Echo) “I am altering my course to starboard.”

6. F (Foxtrot) “I am disabled; communicate with me.”

7. G (Golf) “I require a pilot.”

8. H (Hotel) “I have a pilot on board.”

9. I (India) “I am altering my course to port.”

10. J (Juliet) “I am on fire and have dangerous cargo on board: keep well clear of me, or I am leaking dangerous cargo.”

11. K (Kilo) “I wish to communicate with you.”

12. L (Lima) In harbour: “The ship is quarantined.” At sea: “You should stop your vessel instantly.”

13. M (Mike) “My vessel is stopped and making no way through the water.”

14. N (November) “Negative.”

15. O (Oscar) “Man overboard.”

16. P (Papa) The Blue Peter. In harbour: All persons should report on board as the vessel is about to proceed to sea. At sea: It may be used by fishing vessels to mean: “My nets have come fast upon an obstruction.”

17. Q (Quebec) “My vessel is ‘healthy’ and I request free pratique.”

18. R (Romeo) “The way is off my ship.”

19. S (Sierra) “I am operating astern propulsion.”

20. T (Tango) “Keep clear of me; I am engaged in pair trawling.”

21. U (Uniform) “You are running into danger.”

22. V (Victor) “I require assistance.”

23. W (Whiskey) “I require medical assistance.”

24. X (Xray) “Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals.”

25. Y (Yankee) “I am dragging my anchor.”

26. Z (Zulu) “I require a tug.”

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“A Happy Family at Berlin (1879),” replica of the original cartoon from 1878, pen and ink on archival paper, 2011.

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“Wolves (Stop Carrying Out Your Intentions and Watch for My Signals.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“Deer (My Vessel Is ‘Healthy’ and I Request Free Pratique.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“Bear (I Am Altering My Course to Port.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“Lion (Man Overboard.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“Imperial Peacock (I Am Taking In, or Discharging, or Carrying Dangerous Goods.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“Stork (Negative.),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 94cm x 146cm, 2011.

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“The Black Sea,” oil and acrylic on canvas, 160cm x 240cm, 2011.

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Installation views from the exhibition “At Sea.”

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Read My LipsThe project “Read My Lips” is playfully informed by Roland Barthes’s assertion that,

“the death of the author is the birth of the reader,“ and its professed empowerment of

critical viewership. The project tries to reenact the interactive relationship between

author, work, and viewer, referencing the expressive forces of authorial subjectivity or,

alternately, the artist as performer confronting the viewer. However, “Read My Lips”

also enacts the possibility of digression on the part of the viewer into involuntary

vulgarity through the participatory process of reading.

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“Read My Lips (Painting 1),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Read My Lips (Painting 2),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Read My Lips (Painting 3),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Read My Lips (Painting 4),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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Installation views from the exhibition “Read My Lips” at Pistolet Gallery, Sofia, March, 2011.

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IcebergsAs the Arctic was explored during the 19th century, sailors returned with accounts of

exoctically shaped icebergs. Soon icebergs became a popular subject for artists who

reinterpreted these natural phenomena as fantastical shapes that also echoed archi-

tectural forms such as cathedrals or arches. These images, almost always presented

as realistic depictions of actual places, demonstrate the artistic appeal of disguising

subjective abstraction as objective representation.

The project “Icebergs” is an ongoing series of paintings, comprising a typology of im-

aginary icebergs. This painting concept allows me to experiment with abstract paint-

ing within the comfort of a representational space, but unlike the nineteenth century

exmples of iceberg imagery, my paintings are an attempt to directly dramatize the

tensions between the realistic and imaginary aspects of representation.

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George Back (1796-1878), “An Iceberg, a Ship, and Some Walruses Near the Entrance of Hudson Strait, Northwest Territories,” watercolour and gouache, c. 1840. Canadian Heritage Gallery.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #1),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #2),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #3),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #4),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #5),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #6),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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“Untitled (Iceberg #7),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70cm x 97cm, 2011.

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Installation view, “BAZA Award,” SGHG, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 2011.

Proposed installation view, of the project “Icebergs.”

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The S ea Garden“The Sea Garden” project is based upon imagery located within a large seaside park

in the city of Varna, Bulgaria. The park was completed by Anton Novak at the end of

the 19th century yet buildings and landmarks continue to be built in the park to this

day. The park is littered with a range of architectural styles and remnants of multiple

political periods such as early 20th century nationalist busts, socialist monuments,

or the kitschy villas and nightlife venues financed by newly rich businessmen. Like

religious pilgrims, the residents of Varna ritualistically visit the park in huge numbers

every moment the weather permits.

This project presents a collection of photographs and paintings of the park. Having

grown up near this landmark, I perceive its environments not just as a part of my

memory, but also as a part of my identity. However, my intention is to juxtapose a

more removed photographic view with a search for personal engagement through the

medium of painting. Due to my personal relationship with many of the park’s spaces,

for the project I specifically avoided places or views I could recall from my childhood.

There is no personal story attached to any of the featured sites, yet in all of them I

nonetheless try to portray a sense of familiarity.

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“Two Benches,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 85cm x 78cm, 2010.

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“First Aid,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 110cm x 78cm, 2010.

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“Summer Night Club,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 65cm x 85cm, 2010.

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“Copernicus,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 78cm x 77cm, 2010.

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“Wave,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 78cm x 75cm, 2010.

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“Observatory,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 100cm x 150cm, 2010.

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“A Walk with a Baby,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 85cm x 130cm, 2010.

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“Naval Museum,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 68cm x 78cm, 2010. Private Collection.

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Installation views, “The Big Wave,” City Art Galley Boris Georgiev, Varna, Bulgaria, August 2010.

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Golden Paint ingsThe project consists of a series of paintings that I began working on at the end of 2009.

These paintings present a series of everyday objects, which may also be interpreted

as allegories. All of the paintings are executed with the same technique, and consist

of a layering process of both geometric abstraction and representational painting.

The base of each painting is a geometric abstraction painted with black acrylic and

gold gouache. These “golden abstractions,” as I refer to them, reference, on the one

hand, High Modernism and its precept that once a painting is freed from illusionism

it is also freed from ideology, rendering it thus morally sublime. On the other hand,

the “golden abstractions” directly reference notions of the primitive: the gold in the

paintings is intended to equate cultural value with material value. Layered over these

abstractions, I paint images based on my photographs in oil paint; before they are dry,

the images are scraped in such a way that the abstraction beneath them becomes vis-

ible. My goal is to make the subjects of the images appear intimate, while also provok-

ing allegorical interpretations.

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“Nettles,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 85cm x 75cm, 2010.

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“Wife,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 40cm x 55cm, 2010.

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“Husband,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 40cm x 55cm, 2010.

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“Calendar,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 75cm x 60cm, 2010.

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“The Moon,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 75cm x 105 cm, 2010. Private Collection.

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“Onions and Lemons,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 50cm x 43cm, 2010.

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“Finger,” oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 96cm x 72cm, 2011.

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Peter MintchevBorn 1979, Varna BulgariaLives and works in Varna, Bulgaria.

Selec t Solo E xhibit ions

October 2011 “Iceberg,” Gallery BulArt, Varna, Bulgaria.October 2011 “At Sea,” Gallery Vaska Emanuilova (SGHG), Sofia, Bulgaria.May 2011 “Places and Objects,” Modo Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria.March 2011 “Read My Lips,” Gallery Pistolet, Sofia, Bulgaria. May 2010 “Landscapes,” Gallery Uka, Varna, Bulgaria.March 2010 “Golden Paintings,” Gallery BulArt, Varna Bulgaria.Oct 2009 “Two Flags,” Gallery Vitra, Varna, Bulgaria; solo exhibition, part of CONTEMPO, Varna, Bulgaria.Jan 2009 “Objects and Meaning,” City Art Gallery Boris Georgiev, Varna, Bulgaria.Dec 2008 “Landscapes,” Gallery Pistolet, Sofia, Bulgaria; solo exhibition.October 2006 “Collision,” Kwantlen Art Gallery, Surrey, British Columbia.

Selec t Group E xhibit ions

June 2011 “BAZA Award,” City Art Gallery (SGHG), Sofia, Bulgaria; finalist for the BAZA Young Visual Artist Award 2011.April 2011 “CONTEMPO,” Gallery Arhis, Varna, Bulgaria.October 2010 “Gaudenz B. Ruf Award, Shortlist 2010,” Gallery Raiko Aleksiev, Sofia; shortlisted in the Young Artists Category, 2010.August 2010 “The Big Wave”, August in Art Biennial for Contemporary Art, Varna, Bulgaria.Nov 2009 “20 Years,” Art Center Radio Varna, Varna, Bulgaria; exhibition organizer and participant.October 2005 “Horses for Courses: MFA Graduate Exhibition 2005,” Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.February 2004 “Lucky 13,” Belkin Satellite, Vancouver, British Columbia.May 2003 “Emerging,” Phthalo Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.April 2003 “You Are Here,” UBC Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.Nov 2002 “Letters From The Province” UBC Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, two person exhibition with Simon McNally.

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Education

2005 Master of Fine Arts Degree, University of British Columbia.2003 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of British Columbia. Graduated with honors; awarded the University of BC Medal in Fine Arts.

Selec t Texts

“Peter Mintchev’s ‘Golden Paintings’” - Rebecca Lane, http://www.petermintchev.com/html/golden_paintings_review.shtml“Read My Lips” - Svetlana Kuyumdjieva, Culture - Issue 14 (2632), 15 April 2011.“The Landscapes of Peter Mintchev” - Narodno Delo Newspaper, 06 October 2010.

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Published by Peter Mintchev and Proekt Designs, 2011, Varna, BulgariaDesign by Proekt Designs 2011Editing by Proekt Designs 2011www.proektdesigns.com

All texts written by Peter MintchevAll paintings and installation documentation by Peter MintchevAll images copyright Peter Mintchev, except p. 16 image: George Back (1796-1878), “An Iceberg, a Ship, and Some Walruses Near the Entrance of Hudson Strait, Northwest Territories,” watercolour and gouache, c. 1840. Canadian Heritage Gallery.p.4 image: “The Black Sea,”oil and acrylic on canvas, 160 cm x 240 cm, 2011.p.16 image: “Untitled (Iceberg #0),” oil and acrylic on canvas, 70 cm x 97cm, 2011.p.22 image: “Observatory,” 100cm x 150cm, oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 2010.p.32 image: “Finger,” Installation view “BAZA Award,” SGHG Sofia, Bulgaria, 2011.

For Contact:Peter Mintchevpeter.mintchev@gmail.comwww.petermintchev.comCopyright Peter Mintchev 2011

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