Veronika Desova is an emerging multimedia creative born in Varna, Bulgaria and currently based in Glasgow, UK. She is predominantly engaged in the field of architecture, painting and photography. Her artistic practice began in 2018 when she received the RSA John Kinross Travel Scholarship to Florence. There, she developed a body of work consisting of pastel paintings and double exposure analog photographs which served as a tool to interpret and distort the city’s urban fabric through the process of layering, over-exposing and blurring. This method of representation gradually got translated into her developing painting and photography practice. Veronika’s works are informed by the tactile nature of fabrics she uses for her paintings where the medium becomes the message. Alongside these modes of expression, Veronika is also an architect at Stallan-Brand Architects. Designing buildings involves the frequent use of tracing paper on a daily basis and this layering of form onto semi translucent paper is a method she also translates in her paintings and multiple exposure photography.
Veronika’s recent shows include Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture 195th Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh (2022), Danube Contemporary Biennale ‘Shapes and Personality’, Kunsthaus 7B, Sibiu, Romania where she represented Bulgaria (2022), ‘We break: Re-Create’ Co-Interest Tea House and Gallery, Shenzhen, China (2022) and the her solo show at the Stallan-Brand Gallery ‘Sudden Densities’ (2021).
Exhibitions
Solo
2022
'I See Your Voice, There Was a Silence'
12-28th Aug at The Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow
2021
2019
'Sudden Densities'
Stallan Brand Gallery, Glasgow
'Florence: Portrait of a City' (Part of ArchiFringe Festival)
New Glasgow Society, Glasgow
2019
'Florence: Portrait of a City'
The Vic Project Space Two, Glasgow
Group
2022
'Re-Spirit, Trans-Spirit' SAW (Sofia and Varna Art Week), Oct - Nov
Group Exhibitions at Various Locations, Bulgaria
2022
'Tangible / Intangible' 07 Oct - 28 Oct 2022 (Artist and Curator)
The Haberdashery, Glasgow
2022
'We break: Re-Create'
Co-Interest Tea House and Gallery, Shenzhen, China
2022
Danube Contemporary Biennale 'Shapes and Personality',
Kunsthaus 7B, Sibiu, Romania
2022
Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture
195th Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
2021
Elements at The Soane Museum, London
Collaborative Research Project on Gillespie Kidd and Coia and Sir John Soane
2020
New Beginnings
Bedroom Artists, London (digital exhibition)
2020
Love in the Time of Covid
The Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow
2020
Inner World
Boomer Gallery, London
2020
40th Anniversary of Royal Scottish Academy
(Sir John Kinross Scholarship), Edinburgh
2020
Soane's Bank of England’s Disappeared Body Parts (Master's Project)
Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, Glasgow
2019
Antwerp: Myth, Modernity and Metamorphosis
Final Year Thesis Degree Show at the MSA, Glasgow
2015
Fundraising Exhibition for the Mackintosh Building
The Old Hairdresser's, Glasgow
Education
2021 - 2022
Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture, Glasgow
2019 - 2020
Masters by Conversion,
Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow
2017 - 2019
Architecture (Dip Arch), RIBA Part II
Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow
2016
Study exchange at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris La Villette, Paris
2013 - 2017
Architecture Studies, RIBA Part 1
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Awards
2019
Landscape Prize for Thesis Project
2019
GSA Sustainability Prize (High Commendation) for Thesis Project
2018
RSA Sir John Kinross Florence Travel Scholarship Award
2018
RIAS Stage 4 Masterplan Shortlisted
2016
Glasgow Institute of Architects Student Awards
Third Year Commendation
2015
Glasgow Institute of Architects Student Awards
Second Year Commendation
2015
Finalist in International START Competition - Rome Architecture and Cinema - with Marco Zaccaria (for a Cinematic Museum in Rome).