Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov
| Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov | |
|---|---|
 Nik.zikov.jpg | |
| Born | August 7, 1946 Sofia, Bulgaria |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Bulgarian |
| 🏫 Education | National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Graphic design |
| Movement | Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, Classical Realism |
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Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov (Bulgarian: Николай Николов-Зиков, also known only as Nikolay Zikov; born August 7, 1946) is a Bulgarian artist, sculptor and political dissident. His paintings are owned by private collections and galleries in Bulgaria and abroad.
Biography[edit]
He was born in Sofia in the family of Petar Atanasov-Zikov and Nadezhda Evtimova. In 1967 he graduated from the Art High School, and in 1974 Decorative and Monumental Painting at the National Academy of Arts in the class of Prof. Mito Ganovski.[1]
Conflict with the communist regime[edit]
After graduating, Nikolay Zikov participated in his first exhibition. The most characteristic of his works are the surreal plots and landscapes with rocks. In 1977, his painting "Political Song" provoked controversy during a joint art exhibition in Dobrich (then Tolbuhin), as it included an image of the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, whom the communist regimes disliked.[2]
A scandal followed in 1979, when his painting "Ballad of the Bulgarian" was not allowed to participate in an exhibition on charges of being a fascist. Instead of complying with the regime's demands, however, Nikolay Zikov painted a new, even more provocative picture, which he called "Common Socialism". He offered it to participate in the international youth exhibition, which was to be held in 1980 in Sofia. The canvas was rejected, and the artist was summoned by the secret services and told that no more of his paintings would be allowed to participate in exhibitions. In the following years, he created the "XX Century" cycle, surreal paintings with anti-totalitarian messages, tried hard to get them into exhibitions, but each time he was refused.[3]
Since 1981 Nikolay Zikov has been working in the marketing department of the foreign trade company Machinoexport. In the following years, he developed many cutting-edge advertising products for the market in France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. When the first independent trade union Podkrepa (modeled on the Polish Solidarność) was established in Bulgaria in 1988, Nikolay Zikov became its founder and made its logo - one of the most characteristic Bulgarian emblems. On this occasion, he was fired and lost his job.[4]
Monumental works[edit]
After the democratization of Bulgaria in 1989, Nikolay Zikov created an advertising agency working not only in the field of visual advertising, but also in architectural design, synthesis in the interior and exterior and decorative and monumental arts. His work includes mosaics and metal sculptures at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia; mosaics and metal sculptures of the Spartacus swimming pool in Sofia; stone relief of Radon Todev in Bansko (in collective); brass plastics, decorative walls and stained glass in Smyadovo; brass plastics in Bozhurishte; brass plastics in the resort of Albena; mosaic in Madan (in collective), memorial plaques, etc. Among his monumental works of particular interest are the mosaics and sculptures of lion heads in the Pair of Baths in Kyustendil (1986), the plastic icons of St. John of Rila at the University of Mining and Geology in Sofia (2002), the sculptural composition "Yan Bibiyan and the Imp Fiut" in Sofia (2006)[5] and the "Monument to the Fallen Pilots in the Sky over Sofia in 1943 and 1944" in Sofia (2010)[6]
Return[edit]
In 2020 Nikolay Zikov organized his first solo exhibition in the gallery of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture "Sredets".[7][8] The exhibition is called "XX Century" and includes only works created in the 70s and 80s, which were banned and not allowed to participate in exhibitions. The Bulgarian press covered the event widely and called Zikov the "forbidden master"[9]. On November 9, 2020, the exhibition of Zikov was scheduled to visit the Czech Republic on the occasion of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the event was determined, but the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Prague organized a virtual version of it.[10] At the end of 2020, a monograph on the work of the artist, the work of art critic Lyudmil Veselinov, was published (in Bulgarian and English).
Nikolay Zikov is married to the famous Bulgarian doctor Galina Shopova, with whom they have two sons - the politician Petar Nikolov-Zikov and the artist Stoyan Nikolov-Zikov.
Bibliography[edit]
- Veselinov, Lyudmil. Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov (A&T Publishers, 2020) ISBN 978-619-7430-45-5 Search this book on .
References[edit]
- ↑ Sredets gallery presents: “20-th century” – painting exhibition of Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov in Ministry of Culture of Republic of Bulgaria
- ↑ Как соццензурата допусна портрет на Салвадор Дали на изложба в Толбухин in Fakti.bg
- ↑ Николай Зиков и неговата метафизика на свободата in Glasove.com
- ↑ В Страстната седмица – да се смирим пред картините на непримиримите in Banker
- ↑ Yan Bibiyan and the Imp Fiut in Electronic register of monuments and artistic elements on the territory of Sofia Municipality
- ↑ Знеполският епископ Йоан откри паметник на българските летци in Dveri.bg
- ↑ Sredets gallery presents: “20-th century” – painting exhibition of Nikolay Nikolov-Zikov in Ministry of Culture of Republic of Bulgaria
- ↑ Изложба живопис "XX век" на Николай Николов-Зиков в галерия "Средец" in Bulgarian National Television
- ↑ Забраненият майстор, който се завърна in Flashnews.bg
- ↑ 20. století - virtuální prohlídka výstavy Nikolaje Nikolova-Zikova in YouTube.com
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