Preslav Kostov

Overview
Preslav Kostov
"My work engages with the intricacies of identity and the immigrant experience." - Preslav Kostov
Employing the technique of automatism, Preslav's paintings emerge from a cumulative process of self-questioning.
 
His imposing compositions dialog with the form and palette of the old master painters, presenting imagined scenes of personal struggle situated within a liminal realm. His works speak to the enduring reality of human experience while rejecting association with any particular moment in time.
 
Presenting anonymous ghost-like figures unconnected to any singular narrative or experience, his subjects inhabit a realm untethered from worldly possessions or cultural signifiers. The tangled forms, with their alluring asymmetry, evoke a melancholic isolation inviting the viewer to contemplate the complexities of the human condition.
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Biography
Preslav Kostov

Preslav Kostov (b.1998) is a London based painter and draughtsman currently studying an MA at the Royal College of Art. He completed a BA at Leeds Arts University in 2020 after studying at the Royal Drawing School till 2017.

 

He was the recipient of The Elizabeth Greenshields Award in 2021 and 2023, was selected as a runner up in the STUDIO WEST ‘NOW Introducing’ Open Call 2022 and is an elected member of The Contemporary British Portrait Painters Society.

 

Recent selected group exhibitions include A consciousness harnessed to flesh, (D Contemporary, London, 2023), NOW Introducing 2022, (STUDIO WEST, London, 2022), Contemporary British Portrait Painters, (The Department Store, Brixton, 2022), Annual Exhibition - Royal Society of Portrait Painters, (Mall Galleries, London, 2022), Proserpina, (Apiary Studios, London, 2022) and RAW, (Soho Revue, London, 2022). His work has been featured in Booooooom Magazine and Artit Magazine, and is held in private collections across Asia, Europe and the USA.

Exhibitions
Works