Dancho Ordev

Dancho Ordev (1945) is a painter who performs in watercolour, oil painting, drawing and graphics. He is also known as an art professor. His art works, based on the experiences of fauvist and expressionist traditions, form a specific modern vision of the Macedonian landscape. The expressiveness of the motifs is reflected in the intensity of colours (values of earth, red and ochre colours) and in deformed forms, transforming the limits of reality. These pictures are pervaded with deep unrest and reveal the conflict of the urban man who cherishes vivid memories of the countryside. The landscapes that have acquired generalized and almost symbolic meaning evoke associations, certain “scents” and “atmosphere” of our regions. The artist’s characteristic “baroque” could be artistic brand and secret message can readily be recognized.

Watercolour technique enables the artist to develop his lyric nature. The landscape retains its visual recognizability, but it is experienced in a more temperate way and the cold tones emphasize the transparency of the atmosphere. These impressions are often reduced to broad, quick, synthetic strokes. The author skilfully uses the wet brush to build light-dark modulations of forms and his controlled strokes avoid random effects and spills on the paper surface. This makes Dancho Ordev´s watercolours unique.

Dancho Ordev was born 7.5.1945 in Skopje. Dancho started his primary education 1952 in the Primary School “Lenin”. During his school days he showed particular talent for art. His great wish was to become an artist, so he enrolled the School of Applied Art in Skopje. 1965, having finished the School of Applied Art, he took the entrance exam at the Academy of Fine Art in Zagreb. He was the only candidate from Macedonia who was passed the test. His mentors and professor were top Croatian artists. Ordev graduated in 1969 and came back to Skopje in 1973. Dancho worked as a graphic artist for the Publishing House “Nova Makedonija”. Between 1981 and 1997 he worked both in his studio as a painter and as an art professor with his students at the Pedagogical Academy in Skopje. In 2004 he was elected full professor at the Pedagogical Faculty. In 1987 he was elected docent at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje. Besides his pedagogical activity, Ordev is a painter and graphic artist and designer and a member of a Society of Fine Arts of Macedonia, the Society of Art Teachers of Macedonia and the Society of Fine Artists of Croatia.
Ordev advanced his studies in Italy, USSR and France. He has received many awards. His works can be seen in museums, public institutions, government missions abroad, private and state collections, the Museum of Modern Art in Skopje; the Federal Executive Council – Macedonian Salon, in Belgrade; the Government the Republic of Macedonia; representative offices in Greece, Bulgaria, Albania; the Macedonian Cultural Center in Toronto, Canada; the Workers´ University; the National Museum in Prilep; the National Museum in Bitola; the Community Council of Strumica; the Art Gallery in Bitola; several companies in Skopje; private collections in Macedonia; Zagreb, Osijek, Novi Sad, Sarajevo, etc.