Nedko Solakov: 99 Fears
99 worries and phobias drawn with offbeat humor by the renowned Bulgarian artist.
Text by Suzaan Boettger
99 real and imagined anxieties of modern life captured by Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov (b.1957)
99 fanciful ink drawings brought to life by handwritten captions that are infused with the sharp wit and offbeat humour that have made Solakov one of the most celebrated conceptual artists of his generation
A highlight of Documenta 12 (2007) and published here for the very first time
Solakov’s drawings are regularly exhibited in the world’s top museums and biennials, and he will be the subject of a mid-career survey at the Kunstmuseum Bonn in Fall 2008
Includes a scholarly text by critic Suzaan Boettger placing this series in the context of the artist’s prior work and connecting it to other representations of fear in art history
Hardback
294 x 204 mm, 11 1/2 x 8 in
112 pp
99 colour illustrations
ISBN 9780714848884
0714848883
99 Fears is a catalogue of insecurities created by acclaimed contemporary artist Nedko Solakov. By focusing on personal worries - from war, AIDS and plane crashes to writer's block, infidelity and the size of one's CV - 99 Fears depicts the general free-floating anxiety of modern life in hilarious detail. In the artist's inimitable voice, handwritten captions bring the drawings to life with bold strokes of self-deprecating humour. These are the fears of an everyman but also those of an artist who grew up under communism, with all its represssions and privations, only to find a new set of apprehensions waiting for him under capitalism. Nothing, however, can match his dread of the future, with all its shapeless, unspeakable terrors. By plumbing the depths of his anxiety, Solakov emerges with his belief in the human spirit intact and his tongue firmly in cheek. If 99 Fears teaches us anything it is to stop worrying and embrace the only thing we need to be afraid of: fear itself.
Nedko Solakov graduated from the Sofia Academy of Fine Art in 1981 in classical mural painting and has since developed works in a range of media, most notably drawing and installation. Widely loved for its sharp wit and offbeat humour, his work has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at venues around the globe, including CCAKitakyushu, Japan; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Rooseum Malmo, Sweden; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Kunsthaus Zurich. His work has also been featured in the world's most important international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale (1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007), the Istanbul Biennial (1993, 1995, 2005) and Documenta (2007).
Suzaan Boettger is an art historian and critic based in New York. She is the author of Earthworks: Art and Landscape of the Sixties (2003).