The exhibition presents 80 prints and drawings by 52 artists chosen among 3300 works kept in storage at Sofia City Art Gallery. Some of them have been displayed in certain general exhibitions, yet such a complete exposition with an accent on the specific features of the two genres hasn’t been set up for more than a decade.

The exhibition reflects different periods of the development of graphic art and drawing in Bulgaria. The selection aims at emphasizing the artistic quality and the variety of technical and artistic means of expression. The works displayed give an idea of the stylistic changes in the development of Bulgarian art from the dawn of the twentieth century till nowadays as well as of the dynamics in the use of different techniques (in graphic art these are dry point, etching, lithography, aquatint, monotyping, woodcut, mezzotint, vernis mou; in drawings – pencil, crayon, ink, chalk, tempera).

Some of the works included are by artists emblematic for the history of Bulgarian art from the first half of the 20th century: Vassil Zahariev, Ivan Milev, Nikolay Rainov, Vesselin Staikov, George Papazoff, David Peretz. What follows is some of the authors who have determined the trends in our art and have given a serious push to the development of graphics in terms of stylistic variety and techniques since the sixties of the 20th century till the present day. The exhibition presents Todor Panayotov, Borislav Stoev, Zlatka Dubova, Anastasia Panayotova, Roumen Skorchev, Peter Chouklev, Maria Nedkova, Atanas Neikov, Hristo Neikov, Simeon Venov and others. The next generations of artists, whose work has been contributing to the enrichment of the two genres, have also been included: Ivan Ninov, Georgi Lechev, Nikolai Maistorov, Svetla Georgieva, Hristo Kurdzhilov, Vassil Popov, Stefan Bojkov, Yavora Petrova, Valentin Stefanoff, Nina Kovacheva, Milko Pavlov, Emil Mirazchiev and others.

Globally and on a Long-term Basis the Situation Is Positive Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova

05 March 2009 - 26 April 2009

The “Globally and on a Long-term Basis the Situation is Positive” Project comprises a series of short videos shot in 2007/08 on the streets of Sofia, as well as a series of digital prints on canvas („motifs”) featuring static images from the said videos.

As a result of its EU accession on January 1, 2007, Bulgaria was granted a full member status. Hence the opportunity to participate in all these „special”, „regional”, „innovative”, „cross-border”, „multicultural” projects aimed at the implementation of “EU norms” and also allowing us to take advantage of a „wide range of opportunities” offered by the EU.

Our capital, already a „European” one, experienced a construction boom in its efforts to meet „progress indicators”. Buildings of glass and concrete were erected in neglected small city parks and children’s playgrounds, filling the spaces between apartment buildings.

Even our short, narrow, pot-holed street with hardly any pavement was not missed out in the rush to fill empty spaces between apartment buildings, prompted by the desire to make it more “European-like”. There came entrepreneurial investors, bringing equipment and people of all sorts. Intensive construction work started. Construction equipment roared in the neighborhood. Concrete and iron replaced the green grass. In the midst of thunder, mud and clouds of dust enthusiastic people and machines do their daily bit to build our European future.

Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova

From Yesterday till Tomorrow. Monuments of Sofia

05 March 2009 - 26 April 2009

The exhibition is devoted to Sofia’s sculptural and architectural monuments as the carriers of urban memory. It features paintings, drawings and contemporary art form works created between the early 1900’s and the present day.

Highlights of the exhibition feature the images of both emblematic and controversial city landmarks. Among the former are the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the St Sofia Church, the Monument to the Tsar Liberator, while the latter include the Monument to the Soviet Army, the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum, the “1300 years of Bulgaria” Monument. There are also the images of landmark city parks, gardens and squares, which comprise part of the building blocks of the city’s organism. Each of the aforementioned landmarks is presented in several works of art created at various points in time during the abovementioned period. This allows a comparison between images of the same landmark, thus revealing the changing perception of the city – starting from the intimate atmosphere exuded by old Sofia, through the monumentality of the 1970’s and up till the present day and the traumatic changes associated with it. Comparison between individual artistic approaches does not only point to stylistic diversity, but also to a variety of personal stances. The interpretation of a specific monument turns into a litmus test for historical change.

Elaborating on urban memory, we inevitably turn to material culture monuments that are old enough to reflect the attitudes of various generations. Being symbols of the city, they become part of its inhabitants’ DNA, encoding their belonging to the place on a subconscious level. Therefore taking care of those monuments is equivalent to sustaining our own harmonious functioning. Paintings by numerous artists feature the said monuments and this has not happened by mere accident, but rather as part of the constant process of tracing our roots, creating a unique portrait of a city’s population through the symbols that outlive it.

The Sofia City Art Gallery collection features hundreds of art works having captured the essence of Sofia. Through them the images of buildings, both existing and irreversibly lost ones, live on. They could also serve as a constant reminder of the fact that the destruction of any such monument inevitably destroys the balance of the sophisticated city organism.

Exhibition catalogue available. Curator – Maria Vasileva.