Installation view, Stefan Nikolaev, STILL LIFE, Michel Rein Paris - photo Florian Kleinefenn

Stefan Nikolaev presents STILL LIFE, a positive statement of its French translation: nature morte.

Tackling the representation of inanimate elements reinforces the idea that life has not disappeared despite the global pandemic. Stefan Nikolaev took advantage of this period in which everything was frozen around him, to delve into his childhood memories, to confront the obligatory passage for every emerging and established artist: still life, as well as to reaffirm the following position: isn't the power of the artist to (re)give life?

Courtesy of Michel Rein Paris/Brussels - film Marine Feuillade

“I confess to a desire to paint while refusing to pick up a brush”

- Stefan Nikolaev

The exhibition is autobiographical: the works presented are inseparable from his native country, Bulgaria. Stefan Nikolaev opts to pay tribute to the landscapes that cradled his childhood as well as to the craftsmen who accompany him on a daily basis (see below the film Half Life, 2021, produced by AM Art Films).

Half life a film directed by Stanislav Valade with Stefan Nikolaev. A production of AM Art Films 2022