The Divine Being is a body that merges the beginning and the end of time into a single point. It does not exist relative to our understanding of dimensions as they are, but is a composite of time, space, and matter. Its body is defined by a pattern that lies beyond our logic. It is universal, adaptive, and continuously changing in relation to the world around it to such an extent that they fuse into one. It has assumed different forms over time, but ultimately is a combination of all of them, which coexist simultaneously within it. It has no personality and is beyond the individual, because it is the sum of all individuals.
The presented sculptures recreate stages of the journey toward the Divine Being — different parts of its history before it reaches a hypothetical final form. As a result of these processes it loses its human parameters and adopts a fluid, abstract shape. Having reached this final stage, it becomes a creator — the ultimate goal of humanity. We ourselves want to believe that we were created by a higher power and, with all our knowledge and will, strive to impersonate it. Being entirely focused on this concept, we forget that we are bearers of creation, without the need of our intervention. With self-destructive devotion we pursue our supernatural drive to create something beyond our nature.
The whole history of existence is imprinted within us. Life itself preserves and utilizes this history, leading to new life — better and closer to perfection.
Within the scope of this project we can accept this higher power as a final stage of a development, incomprehensible and inaccessible to us.
Can we consider that there is a distinct point of origin from which we emerge, or is everything a flowing substance intertwined with infinity…
Installation view
Artworks
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Series “Cast Iron People”
20 × 10 × 25 cm | 2025
with pedestal (105 × 25 × 25 cm)
Wall of Eyes
2024 | Ceramic, plywood
105 × 150 cm
Transforming Body
2025 | Metal
220 × 200 × 190 cm
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15 х 5 х 20 cм | 2025
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15х5х20 cм | 2025
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15х5х20 cм | 2025
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15х5х20 cм | 2025
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15х5х20 cм | 2025
Series: “Cast Iron People”
15х5х20 cм | 2025
About the artist
Martian Tabakov is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in the fields of sculpture, drawing, and installation. He has a background in music and theatre. He creates interactive musical sculptures and spatial sculptural installations that are presented both in established art venues and in spaces outside the traditional gallery context.
He received his education at the National Academy of Art in Sofia and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
One of the main motifs in his artistic practice is the living body as a constantly changing substance in relation to its surroundings. Martian is one of the founders of the independent shared artist space BELKA – Studio for Sound and Form in Sofia, Bulgaria, which has participated in international programmes and exchanges and serves as a venue for exhibitions, theatre projects, and music concerts.
Solo Exhibitions: 2024 – Before the Musical Instruments, ReBonkers, Varna, Bulgaria; 2024 – With Prescription, audiovisual performance, Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center, Gabrovo, Bulgaria; 2023 – Inhabitant, Business Park Sofia; 2023 – Inhabitants, travelling exhibition, Gallery Plus 359, various outdoor locations in Bulgaria; 2022 – The Circumstances We Create Are the Ones That Change Us, Vaska Emanouilova Gallery, Sofia; 2021 – CHECK IN, curatorial project by Marcus Graf, Collect Gallery, Istanbul; 2021 – Architecture of Sound, Gallery Plus 359, Sofia, Bulgaria; 2021 – Habitat and Inhabitants, BELKA – Studio for Sound and Form; 2018 – 1m² of Art, TAM, Veliko Tarnovo; 2018 – Beneath the Surface, National Autumn Exhibitions, Plovdiv; 2018 – Solo Drawing Exhibition, Cité internationale des arts, Paris; 2017 – Ideal Perspectives, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia; 2017 – Solo Painting Exhibition, A&G Art Meeting, Varna.
Group Exhibitions: 2025 – Disturbance/Lost World, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia; 2024 – Belka Open Studio, BELKA – Studio for Sound and Form, Sofia; 2024 – Belka in Sarajevo, Museum for Literature and Performing Arts, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 2024 – Belka in Stockholm, Gallery Studio 44, Stockholm; 2023 – From the Storage 2, Charta Gallery, Sofia; 2022 – Ruins and Empires, Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, Sofia Largo; 2022 – To Collect Contemporary Art, Mühlviertel, St. Oswald-Freistadt, Austria; 2021 – Morphology of Space, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia; 2021 – The Price Is Right, curated by Voin de Voin, U10 Gallery, Belgrade; 2021 – AURA, curatorial project by Kiril Vassilev, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia; 2018 – Beneath the Surface, curated by Galina Lardeva, Autumn Exhibitions, Plovdiv; 2017 – Musical Sculptures, joint exhibition with Martin Trifonov at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Prague; 2015 – No Concept, group exhibition, Varna City Art Gallery.
Awards and Nominations: 2025 – Nomination for the BAZA Award for Contemporary Art; 2023 – Sculpture Award, National Sculpture Exhibition, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia; 2023 – Young Bulgarian Artists – Sculpture Award, Rayko Alexiev Gallery, Sofia; 2023 – Nomination for the BAZA Award for Contemporary Art; 2021 – Sculpture Award, National Sculpture Exhibition, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia; 2021 – Nomination for the BAZA Award for Contemporary Art; 2017 – Award for Best Graduation Project, Faculty of Fine Arts, National Academy of Art, Sofia.