Undercover

2020, paintings

canvas, acrylic paint, polyurethane paint

Artist Petko Durmana compares the then "overthrow" of painting to Francis Fukuyama's “The End of History.” According to the American sociologist, liberal democracy and the free market were the endpoint of the socio-cultural evolution of humanity. "A quarter of a century later, however, we're back to the Cold War and painting is the most powerful and important medium," he adds. After years of exploring technology and new media, today Petko Durmana defines his works as "post-technological painting". He presents square-shaped paintings "because they're Instagram friendly."

"In fact, these are two paintings as one is on top of the other and the bottom one can only be seen with technological means," he says. “In the whole ‘undercover’ series, I create a realistic foundation that is somewhat similar to socialist realism, while on top I place poster messages about the actual reality. That is how in ‘Tsar Bomba’ you see Vladimir Putin’s depicted on a bomb and his crown is its stabilizer, while Stalin is painted below. The picture "Hey, Iran", on the other hand, shows the Mickey Mouse badge worn during the 1979-81 hostage crisis in Tehran and underneath is Donald Trump, who has restarted confrontation with Iran. The idea is that history repeats itself, and I place the tragedy as a foundation and the farce is above.”

text by Diana Tsankova

Еnglish version: Alexander Markov

Photos: Diana Tsankova

Bulgarian National Radio: shorturl.at/xMTVX