Exhibition Opening: Human Morphs

Sofia Gallery, 7pm
Exhibition opening/Private view

Human Morphs

We live in a world awash with information, knowledge and technology. Even data itself transforms through a series of representations thus creating new intriguing stories. We ourselves are living cells of an ever more evolving and demanding system. Little do we realize all the aspects of how our world has changed in the past two decades and the metamorphosis the movement from the physical to the digital has brought us…
Being a non-passive observer of modern life has been a major drive for me to curate the ‘’Human Morphs’’ exhibition, putting together an ecosystem of artists with different backgrounds, working together to decontextualize reality and end up with artworks creating a completely new layer of significance.
It’s a great honor for me to exhibit once again with my friends and colleagues Peter S Smith and Theodor Liho in the welcoming space of Sofia gallery, Bulgarian Cultural Institute in London. I am also happy to have designers Mina Mileva, Jon Gulbrandsen and multi-media artist Petko Tanchev exhibit in the gallery for the first time.
‘’Human Morphs’’ is an exhibition about creative storytelling – the exact moment of pure creation by means of building improbable connections in the surrounding world and exploring human metamorphosis through art, design and technology. Desislava Desseva


Dessislava Desseva
Desislava Desseva is a digital artist and designer based in Sofia.
She works in the field of web and graphic design, spatial design, photography and multimedia. She has graduated with Honours from The National Academy of Art, Sofia (MA in Advertising Design). She has worked as a web and graphic designer for more than four years for brands such as Bushmills Irish Whiskey, Baileys Irish Cream, J&B Scotch Whisky, Samsung, Nivea, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Smirnoff Vodka. She is currently occupied as an art director.
Desislava has participated in many poster and design- related art- projects. She received 1st award at the Sixth International Triennial of Stage Poster and 1st prize at the exhibition Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai, Shigeo Fukuda – Great Masters of the poster from Japan. Her work has been selected for the Digital Decade exhibition at OFFF 2015, Barcelona. She has also exhibited in galleries in Bulgaria, London and Shang-Hai.

About my work
My work has a lot to do with making adequate mixtures – much like when you’re in search of the right proportion of chemicals when making a chemical compound. Being a creative mind means not being afraid of making improbable connections because eventually they might work out pretty well.
I try to be myself and being myself means feeling constantly inspired, devising new means of artistic expression, using new sets of creative tools every time, questioning meanings, pushing the boundaries of visual language.
My works for the ”Human Morphs” exhibition demonstrate the metamorphosis of humankind as a direct consequence of the ”digital decade”, accentuating on the key aspects of hybridity, interconnectedness, symbiosis, distortion, change in communication and perception.
I have chosen Glitch Art as my medium to visualize the concept of technology dehumanizing people and humanizing machines by taking away the physical expression of our emotions. Individuals’ personality is dismantled, converted into bytes and turned into art in itself.

Artworks:

Digital prints:
‘’Digital Sphere’’ series; ‘’RGB’’- series; ‘’Human Morphs’’ series

See_MOre
Interactive Installation – Desislava Desseva, Petko Tanchev
See_MOre is one of a kind mecha-being capable of perceiving reality in a unique way. See_MOre can sense the presence of humans and translate it into its own visual language, recreating their physical presence in a digital way.

Digital Decade (short movies)
Digital decade is a short- movie, depicting the deformation in modern society through a series of replications. The movie is a part of a special AR- Poster I have presented earlier this year at the Digital Decade III Exhibition, OFFF, Barcelona.

http://ddesseva.com/
www.behance.net/ddesseva
https://vimeo.com/ddesseva

Jon Gulbrandsen
Jon Anders Gulbrandsen
Jon Anders Gulbrandsen is a London -based Graphic Designer originally from Norway. His work spans the print and digital worlds.
His Graphic Design education includes two years in a private design school in Oslo, Norway, before moving to London to finish his BA (Hons) at London Metropolitan University. He then went on to do an MA course in Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Since then he has been working in London as a full time Graphic Designer, as well as doing occasional freelance projects and is currently holding a Designer position within the UK government.
In 2011 his MA graduation project was selected for the prestigious Future Map exhibition, chosen among 10,000 UAL (University of the Arts London) graduates. His conceptual work had him shortlisted for a 2010 London Design Museum competition in his last year at London Met. Since then his innovative work has been featured in Computer Arts Magazine in 2013, and various other online publications such as Pantone Canvas Gallery.
Since 2011 he has been collaborating on a number of projects with fellow Chelsea graduate, Mina Mileva.

jagdesign.no
minajon.com

Mina Mileva
Mina Mileva
Mina Mileva is a London based Graphic Designer. Starting off her career as a print designer, Mina’s work has shifted to include more digital work in the past years.
After graduating her BA in Graphic Arts at the National Art Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, she moved to the UK where she did a MA course in Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Graduating with Honours, she was fast to land a job for a finance focused publishing company in London. Earning the title Head of Production after only a few months there, she soon moved on to a Graphic Designer position in the luxury retail sector and is currently working for a successful international brand in their head office in Mayfair.
Since 2011 she has been collaborating on a number of projects with fellow Chelsea graduate, Norwegian designer, Jon Anders Gulbrandsen.

minadesign.co.uk
minajon.com

Mina is a multi-channel designer whose work is conceptually driven, yet quirky. In her projects she explores and interprets the various aspects of human society. She is inspired by traditional crafts which she combines with contemporary media.
Capacity to Endure
This piece explores language sustainability and the tight relations language has to identity and tradition. This tapestry is a modern interpretation of a traditional way of conveying information, using a different symbolic code to represent the meaning. Just as traditionally the viewer needs to be familiar with the system of reference in oriental tapestry to understand the story, here the viewer needs to be familiar with the modern devices that help us understand QR codes.

Peter S Smith
PETER S SMITH

Peter S Smith is a Painter/Printmaker based in London.
Peter S Smith studied Fine Art at Birmingham Polytechnic (BA (Hons) Fine Art, 1969), Art Education at Manchester University (Post Graduate Certi?cate in Education,1970) and at Wimbledon School of Art (MA (Printmaking) 1992) . He was awarded the West Midlands Fine Art Fellowship (1977-79).
He is a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) and the Society of Wood Engravers. His paintings and prints are exhibited in the UK and overseas with works in public and private collections, including Tate Britain and the Ashmolean, Oxford.
In September 2006, Piquant Editions published a book about his printmaking called “The way I see it….” with an Introductory essay by Calvin Seerveld.
He was the Head of the School of Art and Design at Kingston College from 1983 to 2010.
He has a studio at the St. Bride Foundation, Fleet Street, London where he also teaches workshops in wood engraving and relief printing.
peterssmith.weebly.com

Theadore Liho
THEODOR LIHO

Theodor Liho is a Sofia based visual artist and educator in the Academy of Arts Advertising Design Department, working in the fields of graphic design, new media and alternative art forms.
He graduated in Sofia National Gymnasium of Fine Arts (BA, Graphic Arts 1980-85) and Sofia Academy of Arts (MA, Exhibition Design Department 1987-92). Taking master classes in Photography, Ceramic, Video Art, Set Design and New Media.
Theodor Liho has an international career with a long list of solo projects with participation in team art-projects in Bulgaria, Romania, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Serbia, Egypt, USA, Mexico, Japan and China. He is a jury member of many international graphic design and creative competitions in advertising and ExLibris collections consultant.
Works by Theodor Liho are part of many private and public collections including M-tel Collection of Contemporary art and Colorado State University.
Theodor Liho is guest lecturer in visual arts and workshop leader in Mexico,
The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. 2006 – 2009 live and work in Belgium.
In 2010 he was Artist in Residence in Cite des Arts-Paris.

http://teddy-liho.weebly.com

Petko Tanchev
Petko Tanchev is a visual artist, scenographer and video designer from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He uses computer hardware and visual programming tools to create digital content, generative images, interactive systems, UI, animation and video. The virtual worlds Petko creates reconsider the aspects of the physical reality adding a different meaning and content to it. His projects often correspond with the specific features of a space and can be exposed only in it. He is always willing to experiment with new media and contemporary technology.
http://www.behance.net/petkotanchev
https://www.melformator.com
https://vimeo.com/petkotanchev