Milko Pavlov

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Milko Pavlov (born in 1956 in Aytos, Bulgaria) lives and works between Berlin and Sofia. In 1961, his family relocated to the capital city. In 1976, after a brief period of hesitation, he decided not to apply to the National Academy of Arts. From 1978 to 1983, he undertook private art studies with various teachers.

 

In 1983, he participated for the first time in a group exhibition organized by the Union of Bulgarian Artists, presenting watercolors and oil paintings. In 1988, he received a diploma from the 4th International Competition for Young Artists in Sofia and created his first graphic works.

In 1990, he became a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists. In 1991, he co-founded the “Club of the Forever Young Artist” and began working with painted objects. That same year, he received an ARTEST scholarship from the BINZ 39 Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, and began creating his first sand paintings. From 1991 to 1995, he served as the ARTEST coordinator for Bulgaria. In 1993, he worked on a project supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Cologne, Germany. During this time, he created his first artworks using paper pulp and began producing artist’s books. In 1994, he curated the exhibition “BG+CH=IZLOJBA=AUSSTELLUNG” at the “Sredets” Gallery of the Ministry of Culture in Sofia. In 1996, he became a member of the International Print Triennial Society in Kraków, Poland, and curated the exhibition “Hermetic/Chaotic” at the “Shipka 6” Gallery of the Union of Bulgarian Artists in Sofia. In 1997, he curated the exhibition “Bulgarian Art Book” at ATA Center for Contemporary Art in Sofia.Between 1997 and 1998, he was an artist-in-residence at Künstlerhäuser Worpswede in Germany. There, he created his first large-format graphite frottages on paper, presented in the exhibition “Borders of Paradise” at XXL Gallery in Sofia. In 1997, he received the award of the Art Supporting Foundation in Bulgaria for drawing, as well as an award from Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan.

 

From 1999 to 2005, he lived and worked between Bremen and Sofia. During this period, he began documenting fragments of a so-called “unfinished future”—a theme that became central to his artistic practice. Since 2008, he has been living and working in Berlin and Sofia.