Holiday

Holiday (Fill Your Home with the Spirit of the Season) is a continuation of Biliana Velkova’s research in marketing, appropriation and authorship issues. As advertising campaigns are borrowing from art concepts more frequently, the line between them becomes blurred. The project investigates the subliminal messages within advertising; the economic value of the holiday season; and the impossibility of achieving the life style portrayed in various marketing campaigns. Holiday will take these ideas and apply them to a non-existent storefront, at the Convenience Gallery.

Biliana Velkova
Holiday
Convenience Gallery
Dec 16- Jan 14

Reviews of Tropical Saskatoon

A lovely review of the show from Luke Siemens. Oh and here is a radio interview about it I did on Bart Gazzola's The A Word.

Tropical Saskatoon

“When an outsider comes to a new place, he sees the picturesque and the freakish, whereas the local sees through layers of emotion and memory.”
Walter Benjamin


One of the first things that struck me as odd about Saskatoon, when I first moved here over one year ago was the abundance in fake palm trees. Both indoors and outdoors, these plastic versions of tropical paradise seemed strangely out of place in the cold prairie environment. Furthermore, many Saskatoonians hadn’t even noticed them until I pointed it out. This made me think about the above mentioned quote and specifically how we create our own sense of place, no matter how odd or freakish that may be.

Biliana Velkova
Tropical Saskatoon
November 18-December 27, 2009
Opening Reception, Thursday, November 19, 7-9pm
Frances Morrison Library Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

Remembering the fall

I am very excited to be able to share my memories from that day on Petya's blog.

New Work

The Makeover Project (Seduction in Just One Click), 2009

The Makeover Project is a series of five performances done in a Vancouver shopping mall. In the span of one week, I went to various make up counters at Sears and the Bay and asked to be made up exactly as the model featured in a specific ad campaign. I focused on dominant cosmetic brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Sheisido and Dior. Immediately following each make over session, I would go to the mall’s portrait studio and get my photo taken. I attempted to copy the exact pose of the model in the ad which I was appropriating. The project investigates the subliminal messages within advertising, the representation of women in marketing campaigns, and the impossibility of achieving the standards of beauty promised by the advertising media.

Nine to Five

I have been very silent. Yes, working nine to five and the summer in Saskatoon has taken its toll. I will be back soon!

Oh la la, eh?