Winner of the BAZA award for contemporary art for 2008
In 2008 Rada Boukova became the first winner of the BAZA Award for contemporary art, an initiative of the Institute of Contemporary Art-Sofia realized jointly with The Foundation for a Civil Society (New York, USA). After her six weeks residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City, the artist is presenting her one-person show in the ICA-Sofia Gallery.
Rada Boukova
In 2008 Rada Boukova became the first winner of the BAZA Award for contemporary art, an initiative of the Institute of Contemporary Art-Sofia realized jointly with The Foundation for a Civil Society (New York, USA). After her six weeks residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City, the artist is presenting her one-person show in the ICA-Sofia Gallery.
What do the following have in common: the interiors of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543); the vanitas still-life paintings from the 16-17 c.; the Piero Manzoni “breath/spirit” from 1960; Andy Warhol’s silver clouds from 1966; the glossy objects of Jeff Koons; and the works of Felix Gonzalez-Torres...? They are all envisaged in the show of Rada Boukova through some rather amusing yet serious references. The artist is making those through the imagery, the materials, the technique, and the meanings while playing around and creating a provocative vision about the current attitudes in our society.
This is how the French art critic and curator Maxime Tiefine describes her approach: “Piles of A4 sheets of paper, carpeting, cardboard boxes, filling foam, wallpapers, all these are items we can order on line or buy cheep wholesale. This is the material which Rada Boukova uses to construct her sculptural objects. The material is manipulated in a modular way, with calculation and multiplication. The material has been picked out of the huge stock piles found in storage. The artist does not use expensive or rare materials (nor does she use stone, glass, metal or wood). She defines the size and the numbers of her pieces according to availability... Her sculptures are at the same time objects that we STAND in front of at close range, as well as environments that are evolving AROUND us where we can penetrate. Her pieces are neither objects, nor surroundings but both at the same time. One and the same piece may combine both categories while enticing the viewer towards two different ways of acting – to stand in front of or to step inside of”.
