based in London








The faculty of memory is one shared by computers and humans alike, the firing of neurons helps us recall past moments much in the same way that 1s and 0s are collected and recollected by the silicon brains of our android companions. In the uncanny worlds I create, memories of human happenings are experienced through the unreality of the digital. A pixel sun casts shadows of objects long forgotten whilst the procedural fluttering of polygon leaves simulate a breeze that once was. I use digital technology to manipulate such subtleties of reality, both past and present, reconstructing them for the audience in ways that feel both familiar and unsettling. My version of memory is one that calls into question the very nature of what and how we remember.

Using a broad palette of digital technology, I construct a unique method of storytelling. The cues of traditional filmmaking are present - the set is staged and the lighting placed, but the script is torn apart and the actors wholly unconventional. Objects extracted from everyday life take the leading roles; cars, glasses, trees, statues and buildings all performing in ways that feel reminiscent of the Still Life masters of old. Their actions bending and contorting the limits of what is physically possible. In works like 
“Hristo Smirnenski blok.70 entrance A fl.9 ap.23 , Sofia, 1000 (2018)” small moments become big, insignificant movements take on significance and the viewers grasp on reality is slowly and gradually eroded. For me, reality itself is a cyborg, an unconventional hybrid of digital placemaking and human comprehension. It is a reality with in which both comfort and discomfort can be found in equal measure, a reality that is at times familiar and at others abstract. In this reality, conventions break down, expectations are shattered, yet one thing is for certain – it is sure to be memorable.

George

Stamenov

ЮНАК [juˈnʌk] - YONAK

Bloomberg New Contemporaries / Royal College of Art

MMXVIII

A brave fellow is bound to have wounds.

ЮНАК [juˈnʌk] is a word often used in Bulgarian folklore to describe a brave and intrepid youth.

The work depicts a series of “unnecessary memories” from the artist’s childhood. Reminiscences, not related to a significant event, unnecessarily stored in his mind. Ephemeral dreams of past moments. A futile gaze at a stranger’s face or a meaningless peer at motionless object.

YONAK was part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2019.

Duration: 8:17s
Dimensions: 1920x1080
Year: 2018

South London Gallery
Royal College of Art

Hristo Smirnenski, block 70, entrance A, fl.9, ap.23, Sofia

Bloomberg New Contemporaries / Royal College of Art

MMXVIII

This work is part of a series that takes the rules of composition found in the style of the nature morte and uses them as a method for evoking emotion and narrative. By using computer-generated imagery I have generated a hyper-realistic depiction of a post-communist scene located in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In this still life, I have specifically focused on communicating a feeling of disgust. My intention is to make the viewer feel disgusted by observing the unusual interactions that occur between the objects in the composition. In order to achieve this feeling of abjection, I have experimented with manipulating the object’s physical attributes out of the ordinary realm of understanding.

Hristo Smirnenski, block 70, entrance A, fl.9, ap.23, Sofia was part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 and featured Time Out London.