Preslav Kostov (b.1998, Ruse, Bulgaria) lives and works in London.
Kostov's work investigates the instability of the figure within contemporary image culture. Through processes of accumulation, erasure, and distortion, his paintings occupy a space between observation and invention, where bodies are partially seen, misremembered, or withheld.
Recurring motifs, often drawn from genre scenes of leisure or intimacy, serve less as narrative anchors than as frameworks for tension. In Kostov’s hands, these familiar settings are estranged and rendered porous through painterly interference. Figures become traces of gesture, photographic memory, and perceptual slippage. Across blurred registers and fractured grounds, the work sustains ambiguity as a structural condition, resisting clarity and instead opening space for affect, distance, and doubt.
He is a two-time recipient of The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award (2021, 2023).
The Nixon Collection, London, UK.
EDUCATION
Royal College of Art (2021 - 2023)
Leeds Arts University (2017 - 2020)
Royal Drawing School (2016 - 2017)