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.

URBAN LEGENDS

20 April 2006 - 26 May 2006

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.

Dessislava Mincheva Painting

15 April 2006 - 05 May 2006

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.

---------------------------------------------

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.

virus virus ! Bertran Berrenger, Ltitia Carton, Baptiste Debombourg, Gerome Nox, Anne-Marie Rognon, Lionel Sabatt

05 April 2006 - 16 April 2006

Virus, virus! Doesn’t that sound like а 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