Ivan Kostolov was born in Plovdiv in 1972. He gained an early interest in the arts at the National High School for Performing Screen Arts in Plovdiv, and later specialised in scenography at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. A dedicated technician, Kostolov has an extensive academic background. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz (Germany) under Klaus Vogelgesang, from 1999 to 2001, before moving to the Städelschule academy of fine arts in Frankfurt, where he studied under the trio of professors Hermann Nitsch, Simon Starling and Christa Näher from 2001 to 2005. He obtained his master’s degree in painting in that same institution in 2006. In 2012, he undertook a PhD in painting at the National Art Academy in Sofia, which he completed in 2016.
Having built an impressive arsenal of pictorial techniques, Kostolov created a highly unique, dreamlike and absurd universe, where salad and astronauts combine in unbelievable scenes featuring nightclubs, oceans and dragons.
A selection of recent solo exhibitions include: Lettuce and Honey, Gallery Muster-Meier, Bern, Switzerland, 2017; Contemporary Space, Varna, Bulgaria, 2014; Credo Bono Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2014; Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Berlin, Germany, 2012; Arte Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2012; Aspect Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2011; Bulart Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria, 2010; Agrion Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2008; Aspect Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2008; Goethe Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2007; Atelier DreiMann, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2007; U7 Gallery, Frankfurt a. M., Germany, 2006.
Kostolov lives and works in Berlin.
