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Archive - 2006
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REOPENING OF VASKA EMANOUILOVA GALLERY
21 December 2006 - 21 December 2006
Mr. Boiko Borisov, Mayor of Sofia
Sofia Municipality
Department of Culture and Education
Sofia Art Gallery
have the pleasure to invite you at the inauguration of the reopened
Vaska Emanouilova Gallery
December 21, 2006, Thursday, 6.30 pm
Vaska Emanouilova Gallery – branch of the Sofia Art Gallery
15, Yanko Sakazov Blvd. (on the back of Park Oboriste), Sofia 1527, phone: 944 11 75
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Donka Konstantinova
Maria Sapareva
Vaska Emanuilova
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PRESENCES / ABSENCES
Women Artists and Architects in the Modern Art of Bulgaria
8 November 2006 - 2 December 2006
The exhibition is organized to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian Association of University Women.
The exhibition itself represents a mosaic of the works of both women artists and architects. Twenty five artists, among them Vera Nedkova, Zoya Paprikova, Vera Loukova, Donka Konstantinova, Olga Bradistilova, Todorka Bourova, Vaska Balareva, Nevena Kozhouharova, Elena Karamihailova, Elisaveta Konsoulova Vazova, Binka Zlatareva and others together with five architects – Victoria Angelova-Vinarova, Paraskeva Gancheva, Mara Zaharieva, Maria Sapareva, Germana Foke – Genova are presented with works, photographs and documents. Most of the artistic works as well as the architectural projects were created between the 1920s and 1930s. You can see 35 paintings, graphics, drawings, sculptures, more than 20 drawings, 50 photographs of buildings and post cards, more than 35 documents and documentary pictures.
Being aware of how impossible it is to cover all periods, the authors of the exhibition Irina Genova nad Ljubunka Stoilova have decided on a temporal range which is not influenced by the closing of the once existing Association of the Women Artists. The exhibition is even richer with the works of Lika Yanko, Slavka Deneva, Lilyana Rousseva, which belong to the later period of the 1960s and 1970s and reflect another cultural situation.
The abundance of self-portraits and photographs express the curators’ interest in the personalities of the women artists and architects and marks their presence in a symbolic way.
The contemporary visual environment and sensibility define the artistic attitude. The curators have been especially insistent on showing contemporary art as well. They have invited Adelina Popnedeleva, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Sofia Hadzhipapa as well as an artistic couple – Nina Kovacheva and Valentin Stefanov.
Nowadays with the globalization in the centre of the debate we share different (inter)national artistic environments and this is fully applicable to the exhibited women artists. The artists and architects from the early decades of the twentieth century, however, were also educated and expressed themselves in a variety of European cultural centres.
As for the title – why exactly Presences/Absences? During the preparation of the exhibition it turned out that women artists and architects are present in our minds as creators of the Modern art in Bulgaria but they are mostly absent from institutions in charge of preserving historical memories. Works which were reproduced and commented repeatedly when they first appeared and others which were included in the early history of the Modern art of Bulgaria, are difficult and often impossible to trace and find. The research on the accomplishments of the women architects is also impeded. The current exposition is part of the common effort to acknowledge their cultural presence.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue whose compilers and authors are Irina Genova (on artists) and Ljubinka Stoilova (on architects).
The project is financed by the Cultural Department of Sofia municipality.
Sponsors:
Bulgarian Association of University Women (www.bauw.hit.bg), successor of the Association of Bulgarian Women with Higher Education, which was established in 1924 and has been member of the International Federation of University Women since 1925
Sofia Art Gallery
National Art Gallery
With the participation of:
Sliven Art Gallery
Plovdiv Art Gallery
Stara Zagora Art Gallery
The Union of Bulgarian Artists
Private collections
Pro Helvetia Swiss Cultural Programme
Austrian Embassy Sofia
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Kalin Serapionov
The Main Course, 2006
Pravdoliub Ivanov
Easy Banners, 1997
Luchezar Boyadjiev
Homage to Gunther Uecker, 1995
Mariela Gemisheva
Hello, Girls, 1997
Ivan Moudov and Sibin Vassilev
Audioguide, 2006
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Neither a White Cube, nor a Black Box. History in Present Tense
Exhibition of the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia
7 November 2006 - 3 December 2006
The Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia was established in 1995. It is a private, non-profit NGO, an association of curators, artists and cultural theoreticians. It is dedicated to the study, understanding, promotion and practice of the visual arts of the late twentieth and early twenty first century. Its aim is to re-establish and promote the further open dialogue between cultures and art scenes. The history of ICA - Sofia is rooted in the professional partnership between friends who after 1989 shared a common vision about the transformed dynamics and aspects of art.
The goals of ICA-Sofia are focused on the development of the contemporary art scene in Bulgaria in relation to the world at large. The specific objectives refer to the further extension and strengthening of the relations with the international art world through a two directional and reciprocal exchange of artists, curators and critics, projects, etc. Which will not only "take" your/our home out into the world, but also bring "the world" back home.
The spectrum of ICA - Sofia activities consists of international and local exhibitions, publications, conferences, seminars, educational programs, lectures etc.
The current exhibition is the first considerable joint display of the artists members of ICA – Sofia: Luchezar Boyadjiev, Mariela Gemisheva, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Ivan Moudov (together with Sibin Vassilev), Kiril Prashkov, Kalin Serapionov, Nedko Solakov. Curators are Iara Boubnova and Maria Vassileva.The exhibition is going to show some early works (mostly unknown to the Bulgarian public and presenting the authors in a more global context) as well as works created for this particular event.
The exhibition aims at acquainting the Bulgarian public not only with individual authors and concrete works but also with the overall concept behind the work of the institute.
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Anastasia Andreeva
Nadia Rozeva Green. Meditation
Nadia Rozeva Green. Sunrise
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Nadia Rozeva Green and Anastasia Andreeva
MEDALS AND METALS
20 October 2006 - 3 November 2006
Opening October 19, Thursday, 6 p.m.
The idea of a joint exhibition was a chance result of some creative talks and work after graduating in metal art from the National Academy of Arts. The two artists decided that a joint presentation of two authors would be a real challenge and a sort of an experiment with the discovery of a common concept and the accent on the similarities and differences between them. Thus they arrived at the idea of Medals and Metals – an interesting insight into the inner world of the authors expressed through the multifaceted nature of metal.
The artists have been intrigued by the contrast resulting from the juxtaposition of the cast brass medal and the manufactured steel forms with other non-traditional materials. Another interesting aspect is the associative transition of one form into another and their mutual complementation regardless of their intrinsic difference.
Anastasia Andreeva presents a series of cast medals one of which called Real Unreality deconstructs the shapes of a well-known monument in Sofia in an extraordinary way. She also shows her newly constructed steel plastic pieces with optical details.
Nadia green displays cast medals in contrast with other materials and bigger formats.
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LES YEUX OUVERTS – OPEN EYES
Benetton celebrate their 40th anniversary with a photo exhibition
17 October 2006 - 3 November 2006
The current exposition is dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the trademark and includes its most famous advertising messages.
There are presented more than a hundred photos which trace the major events in the history of the trademark – archival photographs, models who have posed for Benetton, social campaigns with the World Food Organization and one of the most outrageous advertising projects.
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Germany, Hettstadt, 1977
Hungary, Budapest, 1979
Vitosha mountain - near Bistritza
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Atanas Jekov (1926-2006)
Painting
12 October 2006 - 3 November 2006
Opening October 11, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
The exhibition is dedicated to the artist’s 80th birthday and traces his long creative career with 70 paintings from different periods.
Atanas Jekov is an artist with a style of his own. His feeling of color and form stayed with him throughout the years in his continual and unwavering quest for expression all of which made him a striking figure in Bulgarian art. His works are inspired by a reality that he experienced and combine analytical insight and in-depth expressive emotion.
The eminent landscapist Atanas Jekov achieved expressiveness, force and depth in still-life and portrait too. His controlled talent of a painter combined with the temperamental sense of color and made his paintings an emotional confession to a rich and harmonious reality that vibrates with life, light and passion.
It is mainly oil landscapes that were selected for the exhibition at the Sofia Art Gallery. The paintings reveal the discoveries and the artistic and human messages of the artist who passed away a short time ago.
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Atanas Jekov was born on 26 August 1926 in the town of Karnobat. He graduated in painting from the Art Academy in Sofia as a pupil of Prof. Iliya Petrov and Prof. Panayot Panayotov (1947–1953). Member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists (1953). Director of the Sofia City Art Gallery (1965–1972). Tutor at the Painting Department of the Art Academy (1972–1986).
His works were displayed in over 45 general art exhibitions and collective exhibitions, international exhibitions and pleinairs: Youth Festival in Bucharest (1953); Paris, Galerie Cherpantier (1963); Berlin (1967); Tokyo (1970); Szeczin (1972); Eisleben, Germany (1979) and other. He had more than 25 one-man exhibitions in and outside Bulgaria.
He organized an art gallery in his native town, Karnobat (1972) and donated 56 miniature paintings and graphic drawings to his native place in 1982 and 1996.
Awards for painting: the Award of the Union of Bulgarian Artists (1965); General Art Exhibition – Smolyan (1968); Honorary Sign of Szeczin (1972); Order Cyril and Methodius, first class (1967), and other.
His works are possessions of the National Art Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, ministries, museums and art galleries in and outside Bulgaria – in Poland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Greece, Japan and elsewhere.
He died in 2006 in Sofia.
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Archangel
Olive trees
St. Andrey Monastery
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Andrey Yanev
Silent Light. A Journey to the Holy Mountain Atos
11 October 2006 - 3 November 2006
Opening: October 10, Thursday, 6 p.m.
The idea behind the creation of Silent Light exhibition originated after Andrey Yanev’s journey to the Holy Mount of Athos as part of the New Bulgarian University project Mount Athos in Bulgarian Culture and Literature.
Andrey Yanev has symbolically divided the exposition into two parts. The water-colours present realistic landscapes which introduce the viewers to the geographic contours of the Holy Mount. The accent of Silent Light exhibition has been put on painting. Through it the author tries to convey in colour and images the spirit, the atmosphere and the power of the divine presence on Athos.
The current exhibition gives us the unique opportunity to experience the emotional and spiritual impact of Mount Athos. Let us “listen” to the silent light which pervades the artist’s canvasses and makes us look deep inside ourselves.
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Andrei Yanev was born in Bourgas. He graduated from the National Art Academy in Mural Painting under Prof. Mito Ganovski. He also specialized in Artistic Enamel under Prof. Talaschuk at Vera Mihova Arts Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists.
Between 1992-2006 he has held over 25 one-man exhibitions in the country and abroad. He has taken part in a number of general exhibitions, contests and plenary exhibitions.
Works of his are to be found at the National Art Gallery in Sofia, SINAIDE GHI foundation in Rome, Italy and the art galleries of Balchik, Kavarna, Vratsa and others.
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We and We, 2003
Man, 1999
Merry-go-round, 2005
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Jaap de Ruig - THE POWER OF IMPERFECTION
With the kindness support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy Sofia and Mondriaan Foundation
20 September 2006 - 8 October 2006
Halfway his study at the Minerva Academy of Art in the north of Holland, Jaap de Ruig thought: ‘To hell with art.’ One morning he simply got up and left home, heading south. He ended up on a farm in France and stayed there for several years.
Later on he started to travel as a documentary photographer, together with his wife the Dutch writer Mariet Meester (www.marietmeester.nl). For nearly ten years they did not have a fixed adresss. Especially their journeys to Rumania, where they lived with the most impoverished gypsies, left deep marks on them.
In 1992 Jaap de Ruig decided to return to visual art, to be able to reflect on what he had seen while travelling. As he, during his time in France, had become very acqainted with the life of domestic animals, it was obvious that he would use the life and behaviour of animals as a metaphor for human behaviour.
Since 1998 video has become his main medium. During the year 2000 Jaap de Ruig gave himself the opportunity of making one small videofilm every week. He experimented in total freedom, not only challenging his ideas about life and art, but also the medium video itself. After one year 52 WEEKS had become a sequences of nearly two hours. In 2002 he finished a series of twenty-one new videos with the title We are Poetry.
Work of Jaap de Ruig has been shown on ARTE-tv (broadcasted in 34 countries), at the Film- and Videofestival of Kassel (Germany), and at the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid (Spain), during Cine y casi cine. In November 2002 he was awarded the Premio New Art 2002 in Barcelona during the art festival New Art. He received the award for a series of ten videofilms with the title 10 Fingers. The work has become part of the collection of the museum for contemporary art in Barcelona, the MACBA.
Screening Europe Tour - From October 2003 until October 2004 Jaap de Ruig and Mariët Meester made a big European tour. In about twenty-five art spaces in Eastern- and Western Europe Jaap de Ruig showed a selection of his videos.
The Power of Imperfection is a solo-exhibition with nine video-installations. Having started in Berlin (Dec.‘05 / Jan.‘06), the exhibition will slowly travel around Europe during the years 2006 and 2007. After Berlijn will follow Groningen, Riga, Tallinn, Skopje, Sofia, Barcelone, Milan and Lisbon.
The protagonists in the work of Jaap de Ruig are mainly animals or symbolized animals. We, as human beings, have a natural tendency to identify ourselves with an animal we are looking at. By using animal life De Ruig creates detours or metaphors to ask questions or make statements about human existence. Humour and aesthetics play a role in making unacceptable sides of life acceptable. Video-installations will dominate the exhibition in the Sofia Art Gallery.
The struggle, 1998
In a circle of light man and animal roll around and over each other, throwing each other to the left and to the right. The representative of humankind and the representative of nature fight endlessly. There will be no winner. The installation is about the struggle between man and nature, the struggle between man and man, and the struggle between man and his own inner nature.
Man, 1999
A spluttering little guy on the palm of a hand. Five maggots stuck together with crazy-glue and a small head made of cardboard. The end of one of the maggots functions as a protruding penis. It is a kind of Rorschachtest. What do you see on this video? Five bugs with a piece of cardboard? Or a vulnerable humanoid with the elasticity and motor skills of a baby? Are you an over-sentimental-not realistic-animal-rights-campaigner, or are you so numb that you find it just ‘amusing’? In fact you see living creatures trying to free themselves. And do you realize that the hand of their creator can close around them at any moment and crush them?
Caressing a dead animal, 1998/2006 - text
In his early twenties the artist lived on a farm. A crucial period in his life which helped him to overcome a severe depression. Thinking of that time he wrote down a list of chores he remembered well. Hundred and sixty sentences that start off beautiful small movies in his head. But in someone else’s head the play-back of these movies might be distorted. Words can only be a medium for transmitting images, when the reader has had similar experiences. ‘Caressing a dead animal? Horrible! You don’t do that.’ ‘Cutting away the chestnuts of a horse? What kind of nutty things are they?’
Nosotros y nosotros (we and we), 2003
In ‘nosotros and nosotros’ we see the left hand of the artist sliding carelessly through the water as if it is a fish. A whole shoal of fish appears. Suddenly right hand enters the water and catch some of the fish. Again the artist uses the life and behavior of animals as a metaphor for human existence. Man is like a snake biting its own tail. Fate depends heavily on random luck.
The power of imperfection, 2004
Hundreds of birds fly over a mountainous landscape. When some of the birds pass by at a closer distance, we realize they are made up by a hand. We realize too that those birds are doing something impossible; they are flying while having only one wing. ‘The power of imperfection’ deals with the incredible capacity of human beings to overcome handicaps, lack of material welfare and social disorder.
I want to be brave, 2004
A snail, made up by the two hands of the artist, climbs a tree. When the animal is out of sight it suddenly falls to the ground. But it courageously climbs up again.
‘I want to be brave’ implicates the desire to be courageous until death, as well as the impossibility and uselessness of the same.
The burden, 2005
‘The burden’ is an installation with two video-beamers. One beamer shows high on a wall a white open window. We see the artist standing behind it. He lifts a stone from the window-sill and drops it. Then a second beamer, which is pointed to the floor, takes over. In a circle of light the stone hits the floor. Uttering a loud grin, the stone wiggles and then comes to a standstill. The stone seems to contain the head of the artist.
‘The burden’ or should we say ‘Getting rid of the burden’ deals with the endless process in a human life of getting rid of mental imprints from his youth.
Merry-go-round, 2005
In ‘Merry-go-round’ dead geese are hanging on a swing. The geese are made up by a hand of the artist.
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Curators: Maria Vassileva and Daniela Radeva
16 September 2006 - 7 October 2006
Opening 15th September, Friday, 6 pm
Important Announcement is an exhibition showing works of contemporary Bulgarian art based on the use of text. The text first appeared in art in the late 60ies of the 20th century and is still actively implemented as a contextual and visual element even today. It is an essential part or an important emphasis in a number of works which highlight the historical development of Bulgarian art during the past fifteen years.
The exhibition presents 33 authors from several generations: Adelina Popnedeleva, Alla Georgieva, Boryana Dragoeva (Boryana Rossa), Valentin Stefanoff, Ventsislav Zankov, Veronika Tsekova, Georgi Rouzhev, Georgi Toushev, Dimitar Traichev, Elena Panayotova, Ivan Kiuranov, Ilian lalev, Ioan Kirilov, Kalin Plugchiev, Kalin Serapionov, Kiril Prashkov, Krasimir Dobrev, Krasimir Terziev, Kosta Tonev, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Maria Zafirkova, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Nedko Solakov, Nikolai Chakarov, Nina Kovacheva, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Samuil Stoyanov, Sasho Stoitsov, Silvia Lazarova, Stefan Nikolaev, Houben Cherkelov, Yuri Staikov. The common thing about their works is that they all incorporate the text into the image, the difference being in the ways it is used and the means of expression: painting, drawing, textile, object, photography, video, installation etc. The exhibits have been created during the last fifteen years and reveal the stages the use of the text has gone through as well as the various ways it has been applied in visual arts.
For some of the works this is the first time they have been publicly displayed in Bulgaria. Some lost or destroyed works have been specially restored for the exhibition while others have been created for this particular occasion. The same space hosts considerable works of art like Nedko Solakov’s Announcement, which took part in the Venice Biennial in 1999, Georgi Rouzhev’s Self-portrait over the German Anarchist’s Manifest Concerning the East-European Issues, Istanbul, 1992, Kiril Prashkov’s Speaking Cobblestones, which was shown at the In the Gorges of the Balkans exhibition in Kassel, 2003 and others. New works exploiting the text have been created by young artists Kosta Tonev, Samouil Stoyanov and Yuri Staikov.
A special catalogue including 150 works by 35 artists created between 1987 and 2006 has been printed for the occasion. The edition contains exhaustive information about all published works and represents an important document on the history of Bulgarian contemporary art.
The exhibition and the catalogue have been made possible through the kind support and co-operation of the Debut Projects in the Field of Contemporary Art Fund, Interspace Media Art Centre, Petko Churchuliev Art Gallery, Dimitrovgrad, Xella Bulgaria Ltd., Obitech, Sign Café.
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Morning Still-life, 1986
The Dream of Mr. Ivanov, 1989
"Jalt Tryd" Newspaper, 1995
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Roumen Gasharov
Painting
14 September 2006 - 12 October 2006
Roumen Gasharov is related to some of the most interesting processes that have taken place in Bulgarian arts in the last several decades. The present exhibition is dedicated to his 70th anniversary and encompasses paintings from all periods of his creative career.
With his canvases, whose major topic is man and his daily routine, Gasharov is constantly challenging the audience and the critics. The ordinary artifacts of everyday life acquire the nature of a tool the author employs to create the modern folklore of an urban type. This ‘tangible’ arsenal Gasharov fits into his oil paintings and collages due to his inherent feeling for the grotesque and the ironic. Pieces of embroidery and lace, fluttering angels and showy shooting galleries, leaflets and newspaper pieces all combine to give rise to the Bulgarian type of pop-art. The markedly naive manner the artist employs has developed into a subtle artistic style. The lyricism his personages invoke, contrary to the expectations, stem from the banal, the kitsch and all that is very close to the manner of the daily routine. The freshness in Gasharov’s canvases comes from the artist’s subtle understanding of man, his feeling for the human soul and his ability to recreate in a concise manner the specific moments of the mass culture that have revealed most vividly throughout the years man and man’s daily life. The artist’s credo: „I love simple beauty and ordinary things”, goes hand in hand with the graceful culture of artistic expression.
Of special interest is the cycle of paintings on topics from Sofia – landscapes, compositions with figures, etc. The author recreates the spirit of the time, imprinting the urban atmosphere in a not too remote past.
The pictures are the ownership of the Sofia Art Gallery, The National Art Gallery, House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, the National Palace of Culture, the Art Galleries in Sliven, Veliko Tarnovo and Smolyan, and the author himself.
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Kalin Serapionov (Bulgaria) Nearly beautiful, 2003
Marko Blažo (Slovakia) Lolita, 2003
Irina Botea (Romania) Casa Poporului, 2003
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CENTRAL
New Art from New Europe
30 June 2006 - 22 July 2006
Press Conference: June 26th,2006,Thursday,11 am Opening: June 29th, 2006, Thursday, 7 pm
Twenty four artists from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary and the Czech Republic are presented in an unusual traveling exhibition. Paintings, videos, objects, installations and prints are gathered into a collection to show the new face of Europe.
At a time when Europe is witnessing the birth of its new history, the recourse to the creative sources of different countries is an opportunity for extending the dialogue. The sponsors of the exhibition – Siemens and HVB Bank Biochim together with Gallery Hilger, Viena – are interested in talented people in all European countries regardless of whether these countries are members of the European Union or not. The creative energy transgresses any political, economic and geographic boundaries. It is in the unification of this creativity that the partners of Siemens and HVB Bank Biochim see the opportunity for an active dialogue between neighbouring countries and the reconsidering of values, which is one of the challenges we all have to face. The common language of art is going to help people grasp the meaning behind the idea of “united Europe”.
The project CENTRAL. New Art from New Europe gives the chance to young authors from several European countries to present their works to a diverse audience. The exhibition is constantly evolving, renewing and adapting itself to the particular surroundings. So far it has been shown in different cities of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia.
The end of the exhibition is going to be celebrated with a concert of scholarship students from the “International Summer Academy Prague – Vienna – Budapest”, which is an educational institution for young musicians at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.
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The Shadow
Light I, 2004
Composition, 2006
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RUMEN SKORCHEV
painting and drawing
7 June 2006 - 9 July 2006
opening June 6, Tuesday, 7 pm
Rumen Skorchev is among the artists whose name is of great significance for the contemporary Bulgarian graphics and illustration. Having graduated in Landscape Architecture from the University of Forestry in 1957 and then Illustration from the Sofia Art Academy in 1964, Rumen Skorchev made an immediate breakthrough into the artistic life of Bulgaria. Several generations have grown up with his book illustrations, which makes him well-known and loved by the Bulgarian public. The artist is equally popular outside the country. Since 1969 he has taken part in numerous international biennials and representative expositions of illustrations, graphics, drawings and paintings.
The current exhibition at Sofia Art Gallery comprises of paintings and drawings created during the last years. The exposition allows for the representation of Skorchev’s concept through the expressive means of painting.
The drawings are characterized by the spontaneity of the creative process. Executed in ecstatic plastic lines, they convey dynamics showing supreme mastery of form.
In his paintings Rumen Skorchev poses the question of tradition and succession. He dwells on some eternal issues of humanity as well as mythological and historic subjects interpreted in a symbolic way through association and metaphor. His paintings combine bright colours, contrast and a semantically loaded composition. Furthermore, they exemplify the transition of the author from graphics to painting and the continuity of his creative explorations. On the whole the exposition shows the transformations in Rumen Skorchev’s plastic concept along the way from graphics to painting through the colourful vivacity and the multi-varied line of the drawing.
Curator of the exhibition: Daniela Chulova
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The Cathedral
At Grape-harvest Time
Evening in the Town of Sozopol
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Pavlin Kotsev
painting
1 June 2006 - 22 June 2006
opening May 31, Wednesday, 6 pm
“ …… Pavlin Kotsev paints from life.
His colours are rich and the form is solidly shaped…
His interests are directed towards the spiritual atmosphere inherent in each of his works.”
Prof. Dr. Valentin Angelov
The current exposition includes paintings created over the past few years. The exhibition is dedicated to the author’s 70th birthday anniversary.
Pavlin Kotsev is one of the most eminent representatives of contemporary Bulgarian realism. Drawing from his poetic inspiration, he has been praising the beauty of his native village of Tipchenitsa for years on end. It has virtually become a never exhausting source of subject matter for the painter.
Being in love with people, the earth, the sea and the sky, Pavlin Kotsev tries to embody them in his paintings as a symbol of the throbbing life. The painter lets the viewers into his rich artistic world. His paintings evoke hidden feelings making people gasp at the beauty and glory of nature and remember their spiritual identity.
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Pavlin Kotsev was born on 13th July 1936 in the village of Tipchenitsa near Montana. He graduated in graphic art from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia under Professor Vesselin Staikov and Professor Evtim Tomov. In 1974 he specialized in Paris. He visited Venice and Florence. In 1982 he continued his education in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The painter has had 14 one-man exhibitions so far. Works of his are among the possessions of the National Art Gallery, Sofia Art Gallery, almost every art gallery around the country, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Alois Englander’s collection, Vienna, private collections in France, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus etc. He lives and works in Sofia.
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MEETING POINT
Borjana Ventzislavova. It Was Always Dark Outside
31 May 2006 - 2 July 2006
opening May 30, 2006, 7 pm
"It Was Always Dark Outside" - a project which presents a social problem through the means of art - a project about women who have become victims of human traffic from East Europe - a global industry based on human bodies -a theme neglected for a long time by the official authorities in our country -without a real or at least an adequate reaction from the society - on the contrary - rather a conflict with the stereotypes of (post-)patriarchic way of thinking - woman as a scapegoat of her own... light-mindedness?
Why is such a project to be presented in Bulgaria - just because a lot of the victims come from here but it is quite less known about them in their native country - whereas the region has become popular with that kind of commodity in west Europe where the project itself has been created.
The idea originating as a diploma work by Borjana Ventzislavova at the university of applied arts, Vienna - the author initiates a research which results as a multimedia installation - the conversations, meetings and affiliation with the women distressed provoke a number of interviews, photographies and video representing the real life - the one which goes on behind fresh make up, velvet curtains, red lanterns...
Jana Kostova
Curator of the project
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Fenix1, 2000
Fenix2, 1997–2000
Fenix3, 1999
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Tristan Jeanne-Valès. Phènix
25 May 2006 - 2 July 2006
opening May 23, Tuesday, 6 pm
In October 2000 the myth of the Phoenix, loaded with the cultural diversity of different epochs and being a solar symbol, an emblem of resurrection and a synonym of transformation, became the subject of a three day discussion conference at the University of Caen, Lower Normandy. The building itself, having been destroyed during the bomb raids over the town in 1944, was reconstructed and officially opened in 1957 with a bronze sculpture representing the legendary bird. Willing to elaborate on the topic, the Regional Council of Lower Normandy asked Tristan Jeanne Vales to give it visual interpretation. The author presented his idea of transformation and the eternal rebirth and revival of spirit and matter in 32 large-scale black-and-white photographs, which are the subject of the current exhibition.
Grouped in four cycles, the works touch upon the idea of the Phoenix as a conversation with time, a communication with the subtle yet powerful movements of nature and an intricate game between the transient and the eternal.
The Traces and Time series, shot mainly in Iceland and Normandy, represent a poetic “listening to” the natural forms. Fascinated by the water and stone playing and the moving forms of clouds and ice, the photographer conveys the feeling of flooding foaming nature which is constantly revitalizing. Counterpoint to the above, the Oxymoron and Take Off series lead to an anthropomorphic interpretation of the universe. In the first one, which was co-authored by Izabelle Le Guern, Tristan Jeanne-Vales interweaves some personal symbols to achieve an exciting male-female diffusion, a unity of incompatibilities and a harmony of oppositions. In the Take Off series the author pays tribute to the flaming bird through the gracious body of the dancer Blanca Lee looking for ritual in movement which brings him to the idea of flying.
The exhibition of Tristan Jeanne-Vales is part of the events held concurrently with the Bulgaria – a Land of Europe festival in France. From May 2nd to June 9th, more than thirty towns in Normandy and Paris itself will be the venue of dozens of exhibitions, concerts, literary readings and theatrical workshops aiming at presenting Bulgarian contemporary culture to the French audience.
The events to take place in Sofia are organized by the Balkan Transit association, the French Association for Artistic Activities and the Regional Council of Lower Normandy with the substantial support of the French Cultural Institute in Sofia.
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Tristan Jeanne-Vales was born in 1954. He has been working as a photographer since 1978. Photographer of the National Centre for Dramatic Arts in Normandy since 1980. His photographs on modern dancing can be seen in most books on that topic and are often published in the French and international press. He is an active contributor to a lot of printed press editions, mostly La Liberasion and Le Monde. For some years now the subject of his photographs has been the traditional folk music of different European countries and since 2003 – the music on the Balkans.
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Nicolas Manev
Painting
11 May 2006 - 3 June 2006
Opening May 10, Wednesday, 6 pm
Nikola Manev is one of the Bulgarian artists whose work is associated with one of the greatest European cultural meccas. Born in the town of Chirpan (August 28th, 1940) and a graduate from the Art School in Sofia, he began his artistic training at Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1962, where he graduated in painting under Professor Maurice Brianchon. An early recognition of his talent came as he won first prize at the Chenavard Art Competition. His life became an inseparable element of the rhythm of the European cultural stage. In 1981 he became a member of the Managerial Board of Autumn Salon, Paris. He was living and working at his studio in Ile Saint- Louis which became his refuge after all his adventurous journeys around the world (Arizona, Colorado, Tunisia, Geneva, London, Düsseldorf, Taiti, Frankfurt etc.). He has to his record more than 2500 works, most of which are in private or state-owned collections and in the museums of more than 25 countries.
His painting can hardly be defined in a simple way or described in strict terms. It is a fantasy, a fairy tale come from ancient times, deeply associative and multilayered like the time we are living in. Manev’s canvasses are charged with the hypnotic magnetism of the weird earth formations of Bulgarian nature ( the Thracian Plain, the town of Melnik, the Rocks of Belogradchik) and the exquisite colour of “impressionistic” Paris. In the course of years he has created a plastic language of his own which shows an author’s interpretation of the abstract and the figurative in painting. He has created compositions which destroy form only to compose it again by means of light reflections affecting with the power of the subconscious.
Nikola Manev embodies the personality of the cosmopolitan artist whose belonging to both the Bulgarian and the French culture manages to convince us that we are all members of the big family of the European cultural history.
The current exhibition at Sofia Art Gallery comprises more than 50 works from different periods, some of them shown for the first time.
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Portrait of Peikov, 1939
Landscape from Stockholm, 1947
Portrait of a Lady
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Georgi Popov - John. Painting, drawings, illustrations
Exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the artist
28 April 2006 - 28 May 2006
opening April 27, Thursday, 6 p.m.
Georgi Popov – John /1906 – 1960/ is one of those Bulgarian artists whose creative development is associated with the artistic processes around Europe. He lived and worked during the first half of the 20th century. Unfortunately his name is not among the most popular ones in Bulgarian fine art and his diverse work has not been adequately promoted and thoroughly examined.
Who was Georgi Popov – John? He was an interesting person, a well-known Bulgarian bohemian and a man with plenty of artistic interests. He used to work in the field of the portrait painting, the landscape, the nude, the still life and the figural composition. He was also productive in monumental decoration, applied graphics and scenography. Moreover he was a brilliant master of the written word and wrote a series of articles dedicated to different cultural events and artistic issues.
Throughout his creative life John Popov went through several stages. His stay in the French capital in the years between 1930 – 1935 and 1937 – 1939 proved to be of extreme benefit to him. At that particular time he became part and parcel of the French artistic life. He got closely acquainted with French art and the representatives of surrealism, futurism and cubism as well as with the pictorial language of the Prague school of art. Despite all the influences, though, John Popov preserved his unique artistic expression.
Between 1947 – 1948 the artist lived and worked in Sweden where he created mainly illustrations. That period is also noted for his water-colours which stand out for their extraordinary intensity.
From the late 40ies until 1960 John Popov worked entirely in pastel. He explored the topic of “Fishermen” in a cycle of preparatory sketches and pictures. At that time he was attracted by the still-life genre.
The exhibition at Sofia Art Gallery includes about 55 works – paintings and drawings and six books of illustrations. The pieces are owned by Sofia Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, Yambol Art Gallery, Bourgas Art Gallery, the National Art Academy, Atelier-Collection Svetlin Roussev, Cyril and Methodius National Library and private collectors.
The goal of the exposition is to present John Popov as a person and a man of art by showing all that has been preserved so far thus reminding us of the artist’s place in our cultural history.
The exhibition is accompanied by a colourful catalogue.
Curator is Roumyana Konstantinova.
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URBAN LEGENDS
20 April 2006 - 26 May 2006
opening April 19, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
This is an exhibition which shows works dedicated to the city of Sofia. What they express is the authors’ reactions to the dynamic changes going on in the city over the past ten years. In line with the great social disturbances of a “society in transition” the face of the city is changing every day, every hour, every minute.
The artists express their attitude towards what is happening. Sometimes they are critical or nostalgic, sometimes ironic or exaggerating. The means of expression, i.e. photography, painting, video, net art, installations etc., signpost the expanded territory of our art over the past 15 years. What the works share in common is the willingness for a dialogue concerning the present and the future of the city we live in.
Sofia Art Gallery possesses a rich collection of works dedicated to the capital dating from the beginning of the 20th century to the late 80ies. They show how the nostalgically romantic vision gradually transforms and makes room for the urban utopias. It is curious enough to trace how the artists see the city of Sofia at present. Their visual commentaries, though inspired by reality in this particular case, often sound unrealistic like fairy tales. And fairy tales can often be scary. Thereby comes the name of the exhibition “URBAN LEGENDS”. Let the viewers themselves decide where the borderline between reality and the author’s fantasy is. Yet let’s not forget that fairy tales always have a happy ending.
Participants: Luchezar Boyadjiev, Kalina Dimitrova, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Kiril Prashkov, Kalin Serapionov, Samuil Stoyanov, Krassimir Terziev, Kosta Tonev, Veronika Tsekova and Dimitar Yaranov.
Exhibition curator – Maria Vassileva.
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Dessislava Mincheva
Painting
15 April 2006 - 5 May 2006
Openning April 14, 6 p.m.
Dessislava Mincheva is among the most prominent representatives of Bulgarian fine art. Her creative impulse is permanently directed towards the field of painting and drawing. The artist has made herself known through the genre of the portrait, composition, still life and landscape.
The current exposition at Sofia Art Gallery includes about 60 works created over the last year for the needs of this particular exhibition. The main focus is on compositions of female figures where the plasticity of form and the movement of the model are emphasized.
Regardless of whether she works on canvass or paper, in oils or pastel Dessislava Mincheva always tries to strike a balance between line and colour with line usually being dominant. The artist prefers bigger formats which give her the opportunity to reconcile essentially monochromatic yet nuance rich colourful harmonies with constructive drawing elements and striking linear accents.
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Dessislava Mincheva was born in 1956 in the city of Sofia. In 1981 she graduated from the National Academy of Arts specializing in painting under Academician Svetlin Roussev. Since 1985 the artist has had more than 23 one-man exhibitions in the country and abroad. Alongside that she has also taken part in numerous Bulgarian and international expositions. In 2002 she received a gold medal for drawing from the Agazzi Foundation, Italy.
Dessislava Mincheva is a Professor in drawing and painting at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia.
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Bertran Berrenger
Baptiste Debombourg
Anne-Marie Rognon
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virus virus !
Bertran Berrenger, Lætitia Carton, Baptiste Debombourg, Gerome Nox, Anne-Marie Rognon, Lionel Sabattè
5 April 2006 - 16 April 2006
opening April 4, 2006, 6 pm
Virus, virus! Doesn’t that sound like à samba tune? Swaying and dancing rhythmically. It is spreading like the virus of the day carried by the chicken, ducks, swans and all those migrant birds that set off from China, stop in Turkey, fly over Romania, Africa and France to reach the North and then fly back. Less lethal but equally pervasive like those small bombs called H5N1 which we don’t know how to stop and which are transported by air and disperse like pollen. We are living in the “information” age. Information that allows for a great amount of disinformation. Ever so permeating. This is it – virus.
Virus as the notorious “emigration flood” so frequently discussed. Virus as the American funds, those big sums of money which travel from one end of the world to the other disregarding any rule or regulation. Virus as the companies which delocalize. Virus as the one that attacks our e-mails. Virus as everything that slips away, oozes and soaks into “the underground” or above in the open, rushes by then disappears and moves on.
Our exhibition is organized around this notion which is central to our lives and the idea of movement, unstableness, permeation and constant branching. It is not meant to be displayed in a closed space or in a single or several museum halls where the works of art are the subject of contemplation but rather in a pattern similar to The Garden of Forking Paths Borges is talking about or even – and why not? – to Heidegger’s Roads to Nowhere. A light and hazardous exhibition wandering like Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie which is concurrently displayed at two places and splits up between two cities – Bucharest and Sofia – and two countries spreading across newspapers, magazines, the radio, television, the Internet. An exhibition which unlike the usual linear discourse presents itself open and multiplied.
Leonor Nuridsany
Curator of the exhibition
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Tenyu Pindarev
Jubilee exhibition
24 March 2006 - 22 April 2006
opening March 23, 2006, 6 pm
Tenyu Pindarev is one of the acknowledged senior artists among Bulgarian cartoonists. More than 60 years of creative activity have secured him an honorary place not only on the pages of all comic publications but also in the minds of thousands of viewers for whom the simplified, expressive humour has long become the trade mark of a unique and unforgettable style.
At the time he started his career as a cartoonist Tenyu Pindarev was already an accomplished artist and also a person with sensitive civil consciousness. The abrupt and curving line of his cartoons gains in spirituality from his dignified human stand that denies cruelty, injustice and hypocrisy, ridicules stupidity, loathes moral debauchery and sympathizes with the wrongly treated simplicity and goodness. His humour is sparing and forgiving and warmed by his understanding of the innocent vices of man.
He also works in the field of graphic art and is the author of a number of lithographic cycles. He illustrates books, comic literature mainly. He is the author of numerous posters as well as comic portraits of eminent Bulgarians.
The exhibition in Sofia Art Gallery is dedicated to his 85th anniversary and includes 70 works from different periods of his creative career. Among them are the cycles devoted to Aleko Konstantinov and Choudomir, some friendly comic portraits of famous people, mainly artists whom the author loved and respected as well as lots of cartoons on different topics, some of which have become emblematic as a reflection of important events in the political and spiritual world.
What presents a particular interest is the piece called At Stoyan Venev’s Jubilee Exhibition in 1964 which was created between 1998-2001. It includes 204 comic portraits of eminent culture makers of that period.
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Tenyu Pindarev was born in 1921 in the town of Kazanluk. In 1946 he graduated in painting from the Academy of Arts under Professor Ilia Petrov. In 1948 he was appointed artistic editor in “Sturshel” newspaper where he worked until 1980. Then he spent four years on the editorial staff of “Caricature” magazine. He took part in numerous cartoon exhibitions at home and abroad – Gabrovo, Moscow, Berlin, Havana, Prague, Budapest etc. He has also got a prize for excellent presentation in Montreal and first prize from the international exhibition in Trento, Italy. Works of his are among the possessions of the National Art Gallery, the House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, the art galleries of Kazanluk, Plovdiv, Varna, Turgovishte, Razgrad and private home and foreign collectors. Holder of the Medal Order of Cyril and Methodius. Honorary citizen of the town of Kazanluk.
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Illustrator Lyuben Zidarov's The Complete and Incomplete Andersen
11 March 2006 - 1 April 2006
opening March 10, 6 p.m.
“I have illustrated Andersen’s fairy tales four times at different points of my career as an illustrator, which is a strong proof of how long I have carried this author inside.
For me, however, he also proved to be the most difficult one since the fairy tales read by an adult were no longer stories about people and animals but a whole world carrying the philosophy and wisdom of the eternal in the moral code of mankind.
In the course of many years I collected documental material about the time of Andersen and my trip to Denmark gave me the unique chance to immerse in the atmosphere of his world.
It gave me the opportunity to make a new attempt at the last, fourth and unfortunately not completed edition, to turn my back on precise information and to plunge into the psychological substance of fairy tales.
The distance of time will undoubtedly decide whether the new illustrations are the best ones and if, despite my professional experience, they are not much the worse for the lack of the romanticism and imperfection of a young beginner …”
Lyuben Zidarov
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Stone in Water, 2005, cardboard, colour tape, 83õ68õ21
No Title, 2005, acrilic on canvas, 13x17
Waterfall, 2005, oil and acrilic on canvas, 145x120
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ACTION: CONTEMPORARY ART
Sasho Stoitzov. Waterfall
11 March 2006 - 1 April 2006
The aim of “Action: Contemporary Art” is to enrich the “Contemporary Art and Photography” collection of Sofia Art Gallery and to stimulate the most innovative trends in Bulgarian art. It is the gallery staff’s deep conviction that the mission of the museum is to follow, choose and preserve the best examples of both the past and present art history. The absence of a Museum of contemporary art makes this function even more necessary under the existing circumstances. For more than 20 years several generations of artists have been working in the field of the modern means of expression without their works being placed in museum collections. This disconcerting fact makes us undertake more active steps towards the preservation of this particular art.
After the exhibitions of Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova and Boryana Dragoeva in 2004 and 2005, Sofia Art Gallery is now showing the donation of artist Sasho Stoitsov. The "Waterfall" installation includes acrylic board plastic pieces, drawings, oils and prints.
Sasho Stoitzov’s name (b. 1952) is among the most renowned ones in the history of contemporary Bulgarian art. Having started his career as a painter he was among the first artists to respond to the changes in the late eighties of the 20th century. His works dating from that time are among the classics of the Bulgarian avant-garde. Sasho Stoitzov is one of the few artists whose name is associated with the notion of Soc-Art.
Since 1998 the artist has been living and working in New York. After a few years’ break Sasho Stoitzov made a striking comeback to his homeland first with the "Naturally" exhibition in the National Art Gallery in 2004 and then with the "Waterfall"
exhibition (first shown in Solers Gallery in 2005).
With "Waterfall" Sasho Stoitsov has tried to create a minimalist depiction of nature and in a specific, unobtrusive yet expressive manner to convey the sense of elemental power and authenticity.
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Sofia Art Gallery and the 8th of March Group present: REFLECTIONS MULTIPLIED
Adelina Popnedeleva, Alla Georgieva, Anna Hen-Yossifova, Elena Karamihailova, Elisaveta Konsoulova-Vazova, Princess Evdokia, Mariela Gemisheva, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Nevena Gancheva, Nina Kovacheva, Silvia Lazarova, Todorka Bourova, Tzana Ivanova-Boyadjieva, Vera Ivanova
8 March 2006 - 7 April 2006
opening March 7, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
The exhibition is a try at a mirror reconsideration of history. It is a “tête-à-tête”” of two generations of lady artists: the first “bunch” of graduates from art academies in Bulgaria who advocated the right of the “fair sex” to deal seriously with art, and artists who in late 20th century understood art as an avenue to convey messages and to provoke public opinion.
The mirror approach in the construction of the exhibition is not a haphazard choice. First, the mirror is an attribute, which is invariably associated with the female principle. Second, the mirror is a common motif in the pictures of the lady artists from the early 20th century whereas the series of self-portraits from the end of the century just allude to it. Third, the mirror carries divine and magic characteristics that are typical of art and women alike. Fourth, speculum (the Latin word for mirror) is a gyno examination instrument, which is interpreted by Luce Irigaray as a symbol of the male penetration into the opposite sex based on the idea of “nonexistence” and cavity. This is how feminism is incorporated into the subject. Fifth, the mirror refers to thinking because of the etymology of the word speculum – from speculor meaning “to speculate” in the sense of “to think” or “to reflect”. This adds to the ambition of the provocative nature of the exhibition. Last but not least the speculum is associated with a spectacular performance (spectaculum), which is the quintessence of any exhibition.
Probably the opposition (or juxtaposition) seems audacious from the perspective of the tolerant theory of art. However, almost seventy years and many other lady artists are intervening between these two generations… The contrast is deliberate as sometimes it best expresses the essence and, moreover, the approach has its raison d'être. The two groups of artists have many things in common. The former protested and asked to attend the nude painting classes in the Art Academy, to have their artworks displayed in general exhibitions side by side with the works of artists from the opposite sex, to organize their own exhibitions and to be treated in a serious way. The latter tried to raise taboo questions that for many years before them were unuttered in the guise of fear and inertia. The former were trained abroad and brought home the trends of Impressionism and Expressionism. The latter experimented with media and means of expression that previously were not employed in Bulgarian art. As regards the subject matter, the affinity is undeniable: both groups are definitely introspective. Self-portrait appears to be the commonest choice. Understandably, the reasons are far from being identical. In the early 20th century the self-portrait stood for growing self-confidence and self-consciousness. At the end of the century the self-portrait was the vehicle of inner drama and anxiety and raised many questions. The exhibition seeks to highlight the similarities and dissimilarities in the attitude to the still life, the male nude body and the portrait. In fact the real mirror is the spectator who is the “looking glass” of destinies, ambitions and achievements that, while being distant from each other in time, are kindred in a deeply intrinsic way.
Are reflections possible in this parade of mirrors? Will it be possible to catch the image or will the image dissolve and disappear into the infinity of variations? We count not on the categoricalness achieved but on diversity. The purpose of the exhibition is to multiply the reflections and to make the diversity, intricacy and even confusion of the reflections provoke a discussion.
Maria Vassileva
Exhibition Curator
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Landscape, 2005-2006
Landscape, 2005
Composition, 2005
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GENKO GENKOV
17 February 2006 - 19 March 2006
opening February 16, Thursday, 6 p.m.
Genko Genkov is one of the most eminent Bulgarian artists known for his striking personality and rebellious spirit. His last one-man exhibition was held in 1993. Today, thirteen years later, Sofia Art Gallery is displaying some works of his created in the period between 2002 and 2006. The exposition includes portraits and landscapes in oil and water-colour which show the latest stage in his artistic development.
Genko Genkov has created mainly landscapes which are notable for the specific style of their author – clearly defined volumes, vivid colours and relief surfaces. In the early years of his artistic career the author used to give preference to the darker range of colours. His landscapes represent people and animals. In the course of time the integrated colour splashes and the characteristic intense warm colours gradually appeared. A tree, a house, a mountain or a path in the open serve as centre of the composition in his paintings. Genko Genkov prefers painting from life and often depicts Sofia neighbourhoods or the outskirts of the villages of Roudartsi and Dragoil.
Through the years the artist has experimented with a variety of methods and techniques of painting. In the 70ies he explored the potential of the different materials, applying oil as water-colour, treating the surface with sand or replacing the brush with a knife. In the 90ies he would use pigments reminding of the ceramic glaze. His works reveal elements of the art of post-impressionism and fovism.
The works exhibited in Sofia Art Gallery represent the best of Genko Genkov as an artist. Painted with boldness and imagination they prove time and again that he is among the most unique and intriguing Bulgarian artists.
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Genko Genkov was born in 1923 in the village of Choba near Karlovo. He grew up in Bourgas. He finished Secondary School for Classic Languages in Bourgas. In 1948 he graduated from the National Academy of Arts under Professor Dechko Ozounov. His first one-man exhibition took place in 1965 and in 1973 there was a retrospective exhibition on the occasion of his 50th anniversary. In 1972 he was conferred the Cyril and Methodius Order of Merit Third Class. His last one-man exhibition was held in 1993.
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"Mood", 1933
"Stoichevski Hills", 40ies of 20th century
National Museum of Military History
"The Valley of the Arda River", 1938 - 1941
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STOYAN RANGELOV
Paintings and Drawings
19 January 2006 - 12 February 2006
The name of Stoyan Rangelov is barely known to the general Bulgarian public. The artist was born in 1911 in the village of Draintsi near Trun. In 1929 he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. In 1934 he graduated from the Painting Department under Prof. Nikola Marinov and the Decorative Arts Departmant under Prof. Nikolai Rainov. Upon graduating with honours, Stoyan Rangelov earned a specialization scholarship and left for Germany and Italy. He died in Sofia in 1949.
Stoyan Rangelov used to work as an army artist for the Military Geographic Institute in Sofia. He is known for his works of oil, water-colours, drawings, graphics, caricatures and monumental decorations. His most active period as an artist was in the thirties and forties. During his short life he held eight one-man exhibitions in Sofia and around the country. His work is found in the permanent collections of the National Art Gallery, Sofia Art Gallery, the Museum of Military history in Sofia and private collectors.
The current exhibition includes about 50 works – paintings, water-colours, drawings and documents. The exposition aims at presenting an ignored artist and popularizing his artistic heritage. The works at display – portraits, landscapes and compositions – embody the spirit of a controversial and dynamic period of Bulgarian history. They impress with romantic and nostalgic moods, expressive solid forms and water-colour blendings with pasty brush strokes. The “Native” and the “European” intertwine in an eclectic way thus building up the artistic image of Stoyan Rangelov.
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Head of Rositsa, 1938
Young Woman with Cloak, 1939
Woman with Mirror, 1962
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Vaska Emanouilova. The Life of Form
Exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the artist
22 December 2005 - 28 February 2006
Vaska Emanuilova is one of the milestones of modern Bulgarian sculpture. She is the first waman-sculptor to leave a blazing trail in our art. Vaska Emanuilova achieved impressive results in portrait, nude, genre composition and history-inspired scenes. Her choice to work mainly with terracotta made this material the emblem of her art. In addition the artist produced scores of drawings and watercolors.
On 4 February 1985 Vaska Emanuilova made a donation comprising 90 statutes, 48 watercolors and 35 drawings to the Sofia Art Gallery. In the previous year the collection was on display at a branch of the Sofia Art Gallery known as the Vaska Emanuilova Permanent Exhibition at 9 Shesti Septemvri Street in Sofia. Unfortunately ten years later restitution claims shut down the gallery.
To mark the artist’s birth centenary the Sofia Art Gallery is organizing a grand retrospective, which presents the donation, and works that are possessed by the National Art Gallery and the Studio-Collection Svetlin Roussev. The exhibits comprise 107 statues, a selection of drawings and watercolor paintings and authentic documents concerning the artist. The Erotic Series that has been unknown until recently is also there. The focus of the exhibition are the portraits of Vaska Emanuilova painted by famous Bulgarian painters Stoyan Venev, Ivan Nenov, John Popov, Rouska Marinova, Kiril Petrov, Mina Ivanov, Donka Konstantinova, Nenko Balkanski, Lyuba Palikareva, Svetlin Roussev. Among the exhibits are pictures by the painter Kiril Petrov that are part of Vaska Emanuilova’s donation.
Members of the team that organized the exhibition are: Slava Ivanova, Vessela Hristova-Radoeva, Maria Vassileva and Marin Marinov. Irena Gerassimova and Simeon Simeonov did the conservation and restoration of the works.
A 134-page catalogue with a color album, a black-and-white catalogue section, a biography chapter, a bibliography part and appendices was released to commemorate the exhibition.
Co-organizers of the exhibition are:
National Museum of Bulgarian Fine Art
State Cultural Institute under the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Studio-Collection Svetlin Roussev
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Vaska Emanuilova was born on 25 December 1905 in the village of Komshtitsa, Godech district. 1922-1927: student at the State Art Academy, painting classes under the tuition of Prof. Tzeno Todorov and sculpture classes under the tuition of Prof. Ivan Lazarov. 1927-1944: works on display at the general art exhibitions organized by the Union of Artists Societies in Bulgaria. From 1927 onwards her works were displayed at practically all exhibitions of lady artists. She was a founding member of the Society of New Artists in 1931. In 1939 she spent three months in France with a scholarship provided by monsieur Belain (secretary at the French Legation in Sofia). From 1944 onwards she had her works exhibited at practically all General Art Expositions arranged by the Union of Bulgarian Artists. Her domains were tabletop sculpture, easel painting, and larger-than-life sculpture in plaster of Paris, bronze and terracotta. Her preferences were the portrait, the nude, the history scenes and genre painting. She died in Sofia on 11 July 1985.
Vaska Emanuilova’s works are now possessions of: the National Art Gallery, the Sofia Art Gallery, the Art Galleries in Plovdiv, Rousse, Varna, Dobrich, Bourgas, the Art Gallery "Donation Svetlin Roussev" in Pleven, private collections in and outside Bulgaria.
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Luben Stoev. Social Services Kitchen
Installations and drawings
15 December 2005 - 15 January 2006
Luben Stoev was born in 1939 in Sofia. In 1963 graduated Graphic Art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Dresden, under Professor Leah Grundig. He has been working in the field of graphics, drawings, painting and installation.
At the end of the 60’s Luben Stoev becomes part of the Bulgarian artistic life. Since the70’s he has had solo exhibitions abroad – in Austria, Germany, Nicaragua, India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Alger and more.
The painter has numerous awards and scholarships. In 1972 he was awarded the Sofia Prize, in 1984 – the great prize of the International Biennale in Bistritza of Bansko, the Republic of Czechoslovakia, and in 1987 and 1989 – The ‘Man and Labor’ award. In 1984 Stoev won a scholarship of Cite des Arts International, Paris, in 1985 of the ‘Bermansgluk’ Gelzenkirchen, Germany, and in 2004 of the Zusman and Culture Contact Foundation, Austria.
Luben Stoev is author of the cycles ‘Third World’, ‘Market Space’, ‘Transformations’, and ‘Outsiders’.
The exhibition at Sofia Art Gallery presents the „Soup Kitchen” cycle. The exposition features installations and large-scale drawings and forms part of the „Soup kitchen” projects of BNP Pariba Bulgaria.
Educated at a German school of arts, the author is addicted to the aesthetics of Eexpressionism. It is reflected in the context of Bulgarian reality. The impact of the works is subdued to contrast. The dissonant opposition finds expression in the monochromatic gamut, standing for misery and polyphonic colorfulness of actual objects, metaphorically reflecting luxury and opulence.The contrast is shocking, provocative and even repelling. It implements the painter’s objective – make us think about it.
On 19 December 2005 from 6 p.m. at Sofia Art Gallery a charitable auction will take place, organized by BNP Pariba and Sofia Art Gallery.
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