The Galerie Alberta Pane is pleased to present Pravdoliub Ivanov and Ivan Moudov, two
Bulgarian artists, who are amongst the most active on the international art scene. This
new exhibition offers a relational matching of the common features of their work : the
sociological view of society, politics, irony, provocation and the distortion of sense.
The two artists offer a critical and corrosive analysis of social conventions but also of
individual habits through a series of new works, containing a strong sense of absurd, an
ability to use the space as well as a questioning, almost permanent of our time.
Ivan Moudov is known for his illegal artistic actions that confront – often with a sense of
humour and mockery – the authority of social power and his appropriation of the authority
of his artistic work. He is keen on infiltrating reality and the spaces that surround us in
order to change them in a better way, searching the interaction with the public by
proposing to them an alternative to the standard way of thinking, showing the ambiguity of
the real and the inadequacy of our instruments of interpretation.
The research of Pravdoliub Ivanov diverts from traditional practice by focusing on the
observation which takes precedence over the function and analyses the historical,
psycological and political upheavals in our society. His work, through a particular and
sophisticated aesthetic, deals with its attempt to affect collective memory and in
particular to undermine the codes already established.
The two artists have already worked together in several exhibitions and represented
Bulgaria (with artist Stefan Nikolaïev) at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007.

Graduated at the National School of Arts in Sofia in 1993 (and currently teaching there), Pravdoliub Ivanov is one of the founders of Contemporary Art Institute in Sofia. He has presented several solo exhibitions in art galleries (Sofia, Plovdiv, Warsaw) and in cultural Institutions in Switzerland and in New York. Particularly, he has also joined grand group shows : Fridericianum Museum, Kassel, Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland, Who killed the Painting, Works from the bloch collection, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen , Germany, and in several Biennals : 4th Biennal pf Istambul ; Turkey ; Manifesta 4, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 14th Biennal of Sydney, Australia, 52nd Venice Biennal , Italy, 5th Biellal of Berlin, Germany. Some works of his are currently shown in two exhibitions in Austria and in Germany.

Ivan Moudov takes part in 2002 in Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt and has already widely exhibited his works in Europe and around the world. In 2005, he joined the first Moskow Biennal and in 2007 represented Bulgaria at the 52nd Venice Biennale. In 2010 the artist is present at the group show « Les Vigiles, les menteurs, les rêveurs » at Plateau-Frac Île-de-France as well as at the second international biennial on Antakya. In 2011, he presents a personal show, %, at W139 in Amsterdam and participates at the show « Site inspection - The Museum in the Museum» at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest. In 2012 he presented his second exhibition in France, at the Galerie Alberta Pane. He currently exhibits at Mumok in Wien.

Ivan Moudov is an unclassifiable artist, known for his artistic actions that confront—often with a sense of irony—all forms of authority. Born in Sofia in 1975, he is one of the most influential artists of the new Bulgarian art scene. His work contains a strong sense of the absurd, with an ability to use space and challenge, quasi-permanently, the values that govern his social, political and artisti environments.

For his second exhibition at Alberta Pane Gallery, Ivan Moudov presents a project in two parts The Glory Hole—a title inspired by gay culture in the 1970s. The gallery will be split in two by a wall made specifically for the exhibition, interrupted at its centre by an empty circle of 8 cm. On one side, Moudov presents a minimalist show of only a few pieces; on the other, the viewer will find a space occupied by many works of all different techniques—video, photography, object and installation—this side functioning as a sort of mini-retrospective to his work made between 2009 and 2012. The wall, a central piece to the exhibition, finds itself at the border between two radically different concepts of the exhibition. When standing in the center of the gallery at the circle, the viewer is able to see the exhibition, playing the part of the voyeur who sees without being seen.

In 2010, Moudov and Nemanja Cvijanovic worked together to present “No,” an exhibition at Alberta Pane Gallery where the artists changed the door handle to the entrance of the gallery in order to lock its visitors inside. Moudov continues to use space creatively in his new work Fresh Window, which again demands the active participation of the gallery staff.

Combining the two notions of “less is more” and “more is more,” Ivan Moudov gives us his reflection through the function of the art piece in the exhibition, as well as through the visitor point of view, actor in a stage created by the artist himself. Both curator and artist, Ivan Moudov attempts to expose the conventions that govern the contemporary art world and its market, and through this artistic exploration, disrupt its.

After graduating from the National Academy of Beaux-arts in Sofia in 2002, Ivan Moudov participated in Manifesto 4 in Frankfurt, and has since been exhibited widely in Europe an throughout the rest of the world. In 2005, he participated in the first Moscow Biennialand tw years later in 2007 he represented Bulgaria in the 52nd Biennial of Venice. In 2010, the artist was presented in the exhibition “The Vigils, the Liars, the Dreamers” at Plateau-Frac Île-de-France

(curated by Guillaume Désanges), as well as being shown at the Second International Biennial in Antakya. In 2011, he presented a solo exhibition, %, at W130 in Amsterdam.

In May 2017 the gallery opened its second venue in Venice, a former carpenter’s shop of 350m², transformed into an evocative exhibition space. In the same year, the gallery undertook an editorial venture: Edizioni Alberta Pane. This new series of publications reinforces the role of the gallery as promoter of the artistic activity, fostering the public fruition, and the relationship of the artists with institutions, collectors and editorial production.

Artists: Gayle Chong Kwan, Marie Denis, Romina De Novellis, Igor Eškinja, Christian Fogarolli, Luciana Lamothe, Marie Lelouche, Marcos Lutyens, Ivan Moudov, Fritz Panzer, Michelangelo Penso, Michele Spanghero, Esther Stocker, João Vilhena