In 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, the Singaporean public voted artists and creatives as the number one most non-essential profession. Simultaneously the UK government was accused on not having provided sufficient help for artists during the pandemic. These observations are what motivated Mihov to create the Non Essential Series of paintings, that were exhibited at Blue Ocean Fine Art Gallery in Singapore as part of the campaign – Non Essential Artist Month. On the opening evening of the exhibition, Mihov tore apart the largest of his pieces, which was also the artist’s first self portrait. The idea of the act was the evoke a feeling in the audience of what it means to destroy art, or what the world would feel like without art and hence address the question of why creatives are essential part of our world. The series constitutes of 10 watercolour and ink paintings on hot pressed cotton (one large self portrait and 9 smaller pieces).

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Each piece depicts a theme of a landfill, but instead of rubbish, one sees famous paintings, architectural landmarks, or references to music and pop culture. Idea being that by calling artists non-essential, we are trashing out the entirety of the world’s culture, landmarks, design, famous masterpieces and overall heritage, which all had creative input. The series has been featured in the British art critique magazine The Flux Review, local Singaporean press, Bulgarian National TV, to mention but a few.

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All 9 pieces from the Non-Essential Series are unnamed, besides being assigned a number, to highlight their non-essential nature. The pieces reference within them famous art, architecture, design, music, film, dance, all relating to the numerous contributions brought by the creative sector and depicted as trashed. Homage to those various elements can be seen with references made to Damien Hirst, Andy Wharhol, Picasso, Van Gogh, Rothko, Monet, Johannes Vermeer, Da Vinci, other more modern symbols of our culture such as Miley Cyrus, Netflix and its’ famous shows such as The Crown, as well as landmarks such as The Louvre and The Statue of Liberty.

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