Stefan Nikolaev's First Paris Solo Show at Galerie Michel Rein

Stefan Nikolaev, born in 1970 in Bulgaria and based in Paris since 1988, presented his first solo exhibition in Paris at Galerie Michel Rein from May 23 to July 15, 2003. The show, titled "One for the Money, Two for the Show" after Carl Perkins' song, featured a neon pink star with black leather wristbands, a poster with a crossed-out cigarette motif, a neon work "Extra Light" with a blinking ash, and videos including "Kool" and "The Screensaver/the hardisk/the disk." Nikolaev, who founded the alternative space Glassbox in 1997, explores themes of time elasticity, memory, cycles, and loops, drawing on his childhood in a circus family (his uncle was a circus director, his mother a filmmaker). His work often plays with perception, causality, and gravity, as seen in "Pallmall" (1999) where cigarettes never shorten, and "The Screensaver" where a dwarf performer walks on walls and ceilings, defying gravity. The exhibition reflects his experience as an immigrant hearing familiar tunes in Bulgarian on French radio, creating a sense of distance and uncertainty.