Biography

Igor Josifov was born in 1986 Kavadarci, Macedonia. He now lives between San Francisco and New York.

In 1999, Josifov went to the School For Applied Arts “Lazar Licenoski” Skopje (Macedonia). He then studied in California at the Academy of Art University San Francisco in 2008.

Josifov is famous for the diversity in his multiple works and the way he uses the human body to share his views and messages about our contemporary world.

As a performance artist he uses all types of media to create his performances and to express himself. His works seem to all have a touch of theatricality, being quite striking visuals offering various metaphoric meanings.

In 2000, he held his first group exhibition at The International Museum of Art in Norway. In 2004, his works were shown at the Museum of Skopje in Macedonia.

Then, from 2007 onwards, he consecutively appeared in shows located in the USA such as the Big Bang Art show in San Francisco, the "Missing performance” installation at the Bridge Art Fair in Miami in 2008, and the performance "Purification Process" at the Bridge Art Fair in New York. 

In the meantime, he held his first solo exhibition “Art In Search Of The I” in 2007 in San Francisco. Then from 2008 to 2010, Josifov had numerous exhibitions in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago where he presented projects such as ”Art Interrupted” (2008), “Mental Prison”(2009), and “Being you, uses me”(2009). 

In 2010, he participated in a few group shows like “Lost Bodies” (a collaboration with M. Ryan Noble) at the Mala Stanica and at the National Gallery of Arts in Macedonia.

Co-founder with Marina Abramovic of the Marina Abramovic Institute, he participated to the exhibition “The Artist Is Present” at the MoMA in New York in 2010.

Igor Josifov’s career seems to be on a continuous evolution. His solo show “Manumission” was launched in 2010 at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Macedonia while he showed a few of his selected projects in San Francisco the same year (Igor Josifov- Selected Projects).

This young artist possesses talent and uniqueness, traits that will indeed certify a successful career.

Solo exhibitions

2007: Art In Search Of The “I” Translating Space, San Francisco 

2008: "Face it", Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco

2009: "Being you, uses me", Alphonse Berber Gallery, Berkeley
"2 dimensional" at the opening of the Modern Wing at Art Institute, Chicago

"Mental prison" performance a the Tunnel space, New York

"Art Interrupted", Space Gallery, San Francisco

2010: “Manumission”- Museum of Contemporary Arts, Skopje (Macedonia)

“Igor Josifov – selected projects”, MAI, San Francisco

2011: “Igor Josifov”, Galerie E.G.P, Paris (France)

“2 – Dimensional”,  Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah (UAE)

2012:  “Still Life”, Galerie E.G.P, Paris (France)

“Igor Josifov – selected works (2007 -2012)”, Museum of Contemporary Arts  Skopje (Macedonia)

Group exhibitions

2000: The International Museum of Art, Oslo, (Norway)

2004: Museum of Skopje, Skopje (Macedonia) 

2007: Big Bang Art show, 79 New Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco

On the edge of... Sutter Gallery, San Francisco

Paint Soup, San Francisco

Academy of Art University, 2007 Annual Spring Show, San Francisco

2008: "Missing performance installation" at the Bridge Art Fair, Miami

Performance "Manumission" at the Bridge Art Fair, Berlin, Germany,

"Reflection on originality" The Watermill Center, New York

"Ten" 10th anniversary of Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA,

Bridge project, Performance "Purification Process" at the Bridge Art Fair, New York

7th Annual Art Auction presented by Visual Aid and Academy of Friends, San Francisco, CA

2009:  Performance "2 dimensional" at the Art Institute, Chicago

"A touch of violence" - National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania

"Mental prison" performance a the Tunnel space, New York, NY  

2010:  “Marina Abramovic: The Artist is present” - MoMA, New York

 “Works that disturb the moonlight” - Alphonse Berber Gallery, Berkeley

'This House is empty' - the hunted house of light, New York

“Degeneration – regeneration”, Marina Abramovic Institute, San Francisco "Lost bodies" - Mala Stanica/ National Gallery of Arts, Skopje, Macedonia

”Pour l’Amour de Goya” - Galerie E.G.P, Paris, France

“Present Memories” - Perforacije at the Museum of Contemporary Art,   Zagreb, Croatia

“Mise en Scene” - Galerie E.G.P, Paris, France

2011: “Al Ghaib – Aestetic of disappearance”, Al Qasba, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah (UAE)

“Present Memories”, Perforation Festival NYC, New York (U.S.A)

“WOR(L)DS”, Galerie E.G.P, Paris (France)

"Pogledi/ Views" - Blok Gallery in Belgrade, Serbia; organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje (Macedonia)

“Elementaire” Galerie E.G.P, Paris, France

 IX Biennial of young artists “still life”, Museum of Contemporary Art , Skopje (Macedonia)

Awards

1995: City of Skopje, exhibition award “13 Noemvri:” Art Center, Skopje, (Macedonia)

1998: Special diploma for “Society seen through the eyes of children" The    International Museum of Art, Oslo, Norway. In cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Education, Norwegian council for cultural affairs

1999-2003: Stipend from the Macedonian Ministry of Culture for the School for

Applied Arts “Lazar Licenoski” Skopje, Macedonia.

2000: Award for single creation “Vision of the future” at the 14th International exhibition “The Small Montmartre of Bitola, Macedonia

First Prize for successful creation at the State Art Exhibition, Cultural Center  “Ilindenski Denovi” Bitola, Macedonia

2003: 1st place, International Art Exhibition: 13 Noemvri” City of Skopje, 

2005:      100% tuition grant, Academy of Art University Portfolio Grant Program, San Francisco, CA

2011: 1^ST Prize of the IXth Biennale for Young Artists in Skopje, Macedonia for Izgubeni Tela

RESIDENCIES 

2008: Artist-in-residency, "Reflection on originality", The Watermill Center, New York

Performances and installations at the Watermill Center:

·       Manumission, performance

·       Emit, performance

·       Flooded, performance

·       Art Copy Copy Art, lecture and exhibition