A monologue, they say, is ‘a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience.’ Is there such a thing as a visual monologue, and can we assume that the artist, by expressing their aesthetic position, is speaking specifically to the audience? Surely the answer is yes. Every exhibition can be a monologue, because its author has the opportunity to ‘speak’ concretely through their works. And since an audience isn’t defined, the monologue is universalised, already addressing the world as a society.
Dorothea Komitska and Rosen Donchev present us with an exhibition intrinsically linked with everyday society. Through their visual monologues, the artists remind us of the gradual ‘disappearance’ of dialogue from our daily life. We’ve forgotten that communication exists without dialogue – as with commands, for example. They are a ‘one-way communication in which more than two participants cannot simultaneously engage, and in which the second person is treated not as an active participant in the communication, but as an object.’ In our day-to-day lives, we are often in the role of the object. However much television, the internet and mobile phones connect us, they also insist that we ‘listen’ to their monologues. They turn us into objects. Our fundamental human intimacy falls victim to our laziness and we grow apart from each other.
In an attempt to overcome the problem, the artists use provocation. The provocation to move away from what’s comfortable and interfere with another’s work. Their diverse beginnings seem to monologue a common conclusion. Through her photographs, Komitska searches for harmony and the pastoral. Seeking an objective silhouette, contour and precise line, she subjectivises the image. Donchev presents a series of collages, an entirely new approach for him. In them the expressive start leads to a logical conclusion – a lyrical and emotional image, lacking exact dimensions but in both artists, comprising a convincing and harmonious whole.
Dorothea Komitska was born in Gabrovo. She graduated from the Specialised High School for Applied Arts in Tryavna. She specialised in publishing systems and systems for computer design at the Technical University in Gabrovo, and works in the field of photography and graphic design. She has been recognised with awards from the Salon for Experimental Photography in Yambol, the International Photo Plein Air in Veliko Tarnovo, the Salon for Stage Photography in Stara Zagora, Photoacademica’s annual review of Bulgarian photographic art in Sofia, the national photographic competition Music in Focus, and others. She also has several exhibitions to her name in Bulgaria, and one in Thun, Switzerland.
Rosen Donchev was born in Gabrovo, but lives and works in Kazanlak. He has held 19 solo exhibitions and participated in every painting forum in Bulgaria: Friends of the Sea in Burgas, Ludogorie in Razgrad, The Biennale of Small Forms in Pleven, the quadrennial Myths & Legends of My People in Stara Zagora, and others. He has twice been awarded the Hristo Tsokev award for his overall presentation at the annual exhibition for Gabrovo artists. Rosen Donchev’s paintings and icons feature in private and public collections throughout Europe, Russia, the USA, South Africa and Australia, including works belonging to the Japanese Imperial Family and the Museum of Contemporary Art in İzmit, Turkey.