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Dimitar Shopov

Dimitar Shopov was born in 1980 in the town of Kardzhali.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree at Art Academy – Plovdiv and a master’s in “Scenography” at the National Academy of Arts.
He works in the theaters “Sofia Theater” and “Sfumato” as a scenographer.
He also performs in various spheres and disciplines – contemporary visual arts, cinema, theater, and literature.

Dimitar Shopov participated in several group exhibitions in the country and abroad, such as “My dear provincialist,” Swimming Pool, Sofia (2017), “Let them paint,” SARIEV Contemporary, Plovdiv (2016), All I Can Do is Art, Prague (2013), “Gavazov and his time,” Sofia Contemporary, Near, Closer, Together, Sofia (2013).
Some of his realized projects are “Auction of avant-garde Bulgarian art, Gavazov, and his school, originals,” a performance by Vera Mlechevska and Dimitar Shopov, part of NIGHT of museums and galleries, Plovdiv (2014), “Gavazov,” performance, part of the festival “Ulica Otets Paisiy- Text,” Plovdiv (2012), “Our works,” project, part of Night of museums and galleries, Nebet tepe, Plovdiv (2011), “On Jumayata,” project, part of Night of museums and galleries, Plovdiv (2010).


His residencies include Residency Unlimited, New York, 2016; KulturKontakt, Austria, 2013; Specialization at Cite International des Arts, Paris, 2007.


Dimitar Shopov won the BAZA /Young Visual Artists Award – awarded by the Sofia City Art Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Arts – Sofia.

One of his most famous projects “Gavazov” was shortlisted for the Ruf Award. For this project, Dimitar Shopov devoted ten years to researching the life of the Bulgarian artist Milosh Gavazov, creating a fictional character and adopting this name as his pseudonym.


The culmination was in 2012 with the publication of a book album, “Gavazov – the Artist of a Story,” he won the literary prize “South Spring” for prose and thus brought Gavazov out of anonymity.

Another project with a comprehensive response is “New Village,” which includes fine art, performance, and film creation (on the idea of Dimitar Shopov and the art critic Vera Mlechevska). With this project, he won the BAZA award in 2016.
The central place is occupied by works from the “3d Dogs” series dedicated to childhood.

“Dialogues with Dimitar Shopov and Gavazov” traces the connection between the artist’s different creative periods, seen from a new angle, as well as his aspirations to show the modern way of life, the search for mental balance in contemporary society and in our 21st century, called by many people the “century of depressions.”


Dimitar Shopov is the founder of the postgraduate school of ignorance and the author of the legendary work “Molotov Cocktail.”

L’union-Plovdiv Gallery has presented six of his solo exhibitions:
2023 – “Dialogues with Dimitar Shopov and Gavazov”, 2012-2022, L’UNION GALLERY COLLECTION
2019 – “New village – tourist destination”
2017 – “Selected Works”
2015 – “Portraits and self-portraits”
2014 – “Bulgaria is looking for talents”
2012 – “Gavazov Tribute,” painting, ceramics, embroidery.

Gallery L’Union de Paris


“L’Union de Paris” is a gallery for modern and contemporary Bulgarian art, founded in
2001 in Plovdiv by Pavlina Marinova and Emil Pungerov.

The gallery presents exhibitions of recognizable authors, with a definite presence in the art scene in Bulgaria, as well as supports the development and affirmation of young artists who are at the very beginning of their career.

Over the years, “L’Union de Paris” has established itself as one of the most prestigious
exhibition spaces located in the center of Plovdiv.

Its owners create a rich collection of works by the authors they work with, consisting of various forms of visual art – painting, sculpture, objects, graphics. Thanks to their purposeful activity, today the gallery has one of the most interesting and high-quality collections of classical modernism and contemporary Bulgarian art.

3d Dogs