Bojidar Bonchev

It’s hard to define what is ceramics for me.

In its millennial existence, ceramics has received so many definitions. For me there will be always one more – that undefined yet. Some sort of research which gives you vital energy and the freedom to choose. I believe in both beginnings, the plus and the minus, the rational and the irrational, the visible and the invisible, yin and yang. Observing the world, processes and phenomena, I always try to discover the “otherness” that I know is a hidden and invisible part of the world – invisible only at first sight – and makes the world harmonious, perfect, and complete. Looking for the antipode, the mirror image, I often just invent it, if I don’t find it.

— Bojidar Bonchev

Bojidar Bonchev (born in 1956) graduated from the National Academy of Art in 1984 – “Ceramics” Programme under Prof. Venko Kolev. He has been a lecturer at the NAA since 1986 and professor since 2003; he was also the Head of the Ceramics Department from 2003 to 2015. In 1997, Prof. Bonchev was a visiting lecturer to Whitworth College in Spokane (USA).

Bojidar Bonchev has realized over eighteen solo exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad, and participated in many collective exhibitions, symposia and other initiatives. He is a member of the Management Board of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, a member of the Arts Council of the National Gallery and his artworks can be found in collections of the National Museum for Bulgarian Fine Arts – Sofia; the Museum for Applied Arts – Sofia; the Collection of the International Ceramics Biennial – Porvoo, Finland; the Ceramics Biennial in Tuffe, France; the Permanent Collection of Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts – Helena, Montana, USA; the Permanent Collection of SAFECO – Seattle, USA; private collections in Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, Mexico, etc.