START POINT PRIZE – Prize for emerging artists

Alexandar Pertemov is a noteworthy painter, he studied painting after all, however his graduate project consists of several photographs from the cycle SuperStarLookaLikey which he has focused on since 2009. Little baloons which could be twisted and formed into various animals and shapes entered the art scene some time ago with Jeff Koons but Pertemov’s photographs refer to another sphere of modern art. The abstract coloured shapes on a white background are reminiscent of the gestural paintings by American abstract expressionists which were meant to reflect the inner world of the artist. The complicated staging, banality evoked by the baloons, and the decorativeness are in complete opposition to everything that abstract expressionism embodied. This “painting with a sculpture” (because the balloons really are such an ephemeral sculpture) in the photographic media exactly reflects the world of contemporary art which has abandoned deeper meanings and spirituality and instead offers the viewer elegant visual games full of sophisticated references to art history. (mf)