13 November 2018 - 10 February 2019

         The Our Painting in New Directions exhibition presents one trend in the development of Bulgarian art during the first half of the 20^th century. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, artists turned their attention to nature, reality and modern life. Certain genres (still life, landscape painting, portrait) gained considerable popularity, while style gravitated towards realist means of artistic expression. These processes took place on our art scene in unison with European trends that were introduced in Bulgaria mainly by Bulgarian artists who completed their studies abroad. Their works reveal various influences, one of which is the influence of the New Objectivity movement which arose in Weimar Germany. Yet New Objectivity was hardly a prominent well-established trend in Bulgarian art during the 1930’s and 1940’s. The German movement’s most distinguished representative in Bulgaria was Cyril Tsonev. New Objectivity was most frequently used as a stylistic solution as reveled in individual motifs and artworks by various artists who demonstrated their social involvement and interest in a new lifestyle associated with the modern city and the conditions and entertainment it offered. For this reason, it is mostly reflections of New Objectivity that artworks reveal, and since it made its way to an area on the periphery of the European art scene, these reflections are characterized by peculiar uniqueness.

            The exhibition was developed along four thematic lines, namely The New Life of Objects, The Modern City, The Landscape, Faces of the City. The exhibition features works by better known artists such as Cyril Tsonev, Boris Eliseev, Vera Nedkova, Vasil Barakov, as well as lesser-known ones like Asen Vasilev, Todorka Burova, Karl Yordanov, Asen Dochev. The exhibition presents more than a hundred artworks, two of which have not been shown or published before. It also features little known artworks.

Artworks included in the exhibition belong to the permanent collections of the Sofia City Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, other Bulgarian galleries, as well as to private collectors. Research consultant for the exhibition is Prof. Krasimira Koeva. An exhibition catalogue is available alongside a program featuring thematic lectures and meetings with curators providing  opportunities for more in-depth exploration of individual themes of the exhibition.

Curators: Neda Zhivkova, Lyuben Domozetski

06 November 2018 - 09 December 2018

The first Arnold Newman retrospective in Bulgaria will expose 55 original works. Arnold Newman (1918-2006) is widely renowned for pioneering and popularizing the environmental portrait. With his method of portraiture, he placed his sitters in surroundings representative of their professions, aiming to capture the essence of an individual’s life and work. Though this approach is commonplace today, his technique was highly unconventional in the 1930s when began shooting his subjects as such. He is also known for his carefully composed, abstract still lifes. He dedicates 70 years of his life to photography and seals the history of the century, creating an innovative approach to portraiture - "environmental portraiture", by taking the model out of the sterile world of the studio.His environmental approach to portraiture was influenced by symbolism and impressionism, and defined by the imperative of captivating the viewer no matter how well known the subject was. While he specialized in photographing artists, Newman captured the likeness of a vast range of figures, from athletes and actors to presidents and politicians. Among his many sitters, Newman’s impressive roster of subjects includes: Marlene Dietrich, John F. Kennedy, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Mickey Mantle, Audrey Hepburn, Igor Stravinsky, Salvador Dali, Georgia O’Keefe, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 Newman was an important contributor to publications such as the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Life, Look, Holiday, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Town & Country, Scientific American, New York Times Magazine, and many others. In addition to numerous monographs, he contributed photographs to countless histories of photography, catalogues, articles and television programs throughout his career. Newman was the recipient of awards including the American Society of Media Photographers, The Lucie Award, The Royal Photographic Society Centenary Award as well as France’s “Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.” In 2005, Photo District News named Newman as one of the 25 most influential living photographers. In 2006, Newman was awarded The Gold Medal for Photography by The National Arts Club. He is the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and has lectured and conducted workshops throughout the country and the world. 

Masters of Photography – 10th Anniversary Edition is organised by MUSIZ Foundation, America for Bulgaria Foundation, in partnership with VIVACOM, Sofia City Art Gallery, supported by Sofia Municipality. The exhibition is in collaboration with The Arnold & Augusta Newman Foundation and Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY.

25 September 2018 - 28 October 2018

In commemoration of the 120^th anniversary of artist Alexander Dobrinov’s birth, the Sofia City Art Gallery is opening a retrospective exhibition of cartoons and caricatures drawn by the artist over the period 1915 - 1958.

Dobrinov created hundreds of political and socially conscious cartoons and compositions, leaving behind a voluminous legacy of incredible portraits of entire generations. Were it not for Dobrinov’s art, these images of poets, musicians, singers, authors, actors, art critics, philosophers, and politicians would have remained hidden behind their occupations and professional accomplishments.

In the 1930’s, art critic Emanuil Popdimitrov gave a foresightful account of Alexander Dobrinov’s past and current presence in Bulgarian art, writing: “Besides being satirical in character, Alexander Dobrinov’s cartoons have a purely aesthetic effect produced by the beauty of lines and the subtlety of watercolor. This is supplemented by the joy of likeness to the model. Because viewers of today take pleasure in solving the riddle, in recognizing the model, while admiring the artist’s ability to accomplish likeness regardless of the significant change in facial features presented by the drawing. This concerns viewers of today alone. Many of these cartoons will also be admired by those who will not be familiar with the models. And this is what the true art of portrait caricature is all about: to have a life of its own apart from the model. And this is how it is going to be for Alexander Dobrinov’s cartoons.“[1]

Today, there are fewer and fewer witnesses to the age presented by the artist. What we are left with are facts, events, archives, libraries, and the artist’s works dispersed among various newspapers, magazines, galleries, museums and private collections around Bulgaria, and throughout the world. This exhibition features more than 200 cartoons and portrait caricatures belonging to the permanent collections of the Sofia City Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, the National Museum of Literature, and the artist’s family.

An exhibition catalogue is available presenting works from Bulgarian collections, as well as, for the first time ever, works belonging to the permanent collections of the Gallery of Fine Art in Ostrava and the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové, the Czech Republic.

21 September 2018 - 04 November 2018

The Eliezer Alcheh and "Aesthetics of Disgrace" project focuses on the past, more specifically on that segment of the past stretching between the dates of birth and death of artist Eliezer Alshekh, namely the time between the years of 1908 and 1983. Drawing on Ruzha Marinska’s study of the artist’s work, as well as on the knowledge acquired by Rumyana Konstantinova during the preparation of the large retrospective exhibition organized in 2008 to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the artist’s birth at the National Art Gallery in Sofia, today, ten years later, the curators of the exhibition hosted by the Sofia City Art Gallery, namely Plamen V. Petrov, Ramona Dimova, Natasha Noeva, and Nikoleta Gologanova, offer their own perspective on the artist’s past. Memories of him, documents shedding light on his personal life and professional career, and the substantial body of his work are finally being transformed into history, which helps put things in perspective. The past is rendered into a story, which does not constitute a mere succession of dates and events, but rather a narrative that could not only be read through, but also lived through and made sense of.

“Death projects its brutal and necessary separation on every nook and cranny of our lives“, wrote philosopher Jeanne Hersch in her essay From Exile to Farewell. Alshekh’s separation from Bulgaria happened in the distant year of 1928, when the Bulgarian national with Jewish blood running in his veins set off on a journey to Munich. In the decades to follow, he would live the life of a rover, a stranger until his last breath, whose work, overshadowed by labor camps, would be branded formalistic and disregarded because of that. Yes, Bulgaria and Eliezer Alshekh parted a good 90 years ago. Yet it is this separation that defines his notable and unique place in the history of Bulgarian art. The Eliezer Alcheh and "Aesthetics of Disgrace" exhibition tells the story of his earning this special recognition. The exhibition centerpiece is his 1960’s work Port by Night, a painting considered to be one of the peaks of his artistic career. The canvas will be shipped from Buenos Aires exclusively for the exhibition together with other works of the artist that have not been exhibited or published before. Featured among them are Alshekh’s first artistic attempts.

Also, the exhibition prompted the collation of a printed edition featuring the contents of the exhibition, including pictures of the artworks included and the entire volume of newly found documents providing evidence and facts about the artist that have not been published before, as well as already familiar papers by renowned Bulgarian researchers. To help shed light on the historical context of the artist’s personal life and professional career, the exhibition team asked prominent researchers such as Prof. Eugenia Kalinova, Ph. D., Rumyana Marinova-Hristidi, Ph. D., Assoc. Prof., and Alexander Sivilov, Ph. D., Assoc. Prof., to contribute research papers to the edition.

The project is brought to life in official partnership with the Faculty of History of the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in the Republic of Bulgaria, and the Organization of Jews in Bulgaria Shalom.

The exhibition is organized with the patronage of His Excellency Alberto A. M. Trueba, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic to the Republic of Bulgaria

17 July 2018 - 12 August 2018

The eleventh edition of the most prestigious competition for young artists in Bulgaria will be held in 2018. BAZA is part of the Young Visual Artists Awards international network (YVAA) in different countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It was established in 1990 and managed by International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York (by 2014) and by Residency Unlimited (RU), New York (since 2015). Bulgaria joined the network in 2008 upon the initiative of Maria Vassileva, and the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia was chosen as a partner to organize the award provides the competition management.

 
The exhibition of the nominated artists is traditionally held in the Sofia City Art Gallery. From 2018 the Edmond Demirdjian Foundation has joined the organisation of the award. When Bulgaria joined initially the YVAA Network, the award was a stipend and a six-month residence in New York; from 2015 the duration of the residence has been extended with two months. During the residence in New York, the BAZA laureate artist enjoys a rich programme of visits to galleries and institutions, professional and artistic meetings and presentations of the artist’s works. More information about the history and work of the Young Visual Artists Awards international network is available at the updated website https://www.yvaawards.org/.

For 2018 the BAZA jury members are: Boshko Boskovic (program director of Residency Unlimited, New York), Karina Kottova (curator), Vladiya Mihaylova (curator), Vera Mlechevska (curator), Stefka Tsaneva (curator). 

The BAZA award winners so far are: Rada Boukova (2008), Samuil Stoyanov (2009), Anton Terziev (2010), Vikenti Komitski (2011), Leda Ekimova (2012), Kiril Kuzmanov (2013), Zoran Georgiev (2014), Alexandra Chaushova (2015), Dimitar Shopov (2016) and Martina Vacheva (2017).

The BAZA award winner for 2018 is Martin Penev.

06 June 2018 - 08 July 2018

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The exhibition is a joint project of Nina Kovacheva and Valentin Stefanoff, following an invitation from the Fotofabrika and produced by the Festival specially for the Sofia City Art Gallery. The event will display thirty large-scale photographic images and five videos. The works are part of several sequences that show the two artists’ individual quests. Most of the photos are exhibited for the first time in Bulgaria. Nina Kovacheva’s cycles “The Hidden Face of Fragility” (2010) and “Five Bible Stories” (2011) lead us through different stages that depict characteristics of man and of traits of human nature while Valentin Stefanoff’s series “Organon” (2011), “Primordial Soup” (2011) and “Plastic Romanticism” (2018) take us into the world of inanimate matter and enable us to peep beyond the large form and to focus our attention on details that he has chosen.

Nina Kovacheva and Valentin Stefanoff graduated from the National Academy of Art in Sofia in 1985. They have been living in Paris since 1995. Their distinguished artistic careers comprise plenty of exhibitions in galleries and museums in Bulgaria, France, Austria, Germany, China, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and elsewhere. They employ a variety of art media like drawing, painting, and photography, in addition to video, video installations, objects and sound instillations. The two artists are well known for their individual aspirations and performances and for quite a number of joint projects that are intended mostly for museum façade and public space and that they sign NINAVALE.

Nina Kovacheva was born in Sofia 1960 in Sofia.

Some exhibitions:

The Temptations of ninavale, the Sofia Arsenal – Museum for Contemporary Art (SAMCA), Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018 / Aging Pride, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, 2017 / The Temptations of ninavale, National Gallery of Macedonia, Skopje, Macedonia, 2017 – Guo Zhong Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2017 / Gold and Niles, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, Austria, 2016 / The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMC), Saint-Étienne, France, 2015 / Art for Change 1985-2015, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2015 / The Naked Man, The Museum of Modern Art (Lentos Kunstmuseum), Linz, Austria, 2012 / The Crying Game, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, Austria, 2012 / Close Encounter, Jeju Museum, South Korea, 2010 / Surplus Enjoyment, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, 2010 / Art Project, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France, 2007 / Face, ZONE: Chelsea Center for Contemporary Art, New York, USA, 2007 / Desire and Resistance Determine the Motion, Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS), France, 2007 / Au-delà de ce qui est visible, National Museum of Contemporary Art (Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană MNAC), Bucharest, Romania, 2005 / Wet Contact, Kunsthalle, Hannover, Germany, 2002, inter alia.

Valentin Stefanoff was born in 1959 in Sofia.

Some exhibitions:

The Temptations of ninavale, the Sofia Arsenal – Museum for Contemporary Art (SAMCA), Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018 / Le Musée a 30 ans! Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMC), Saint-Étienne, France, 2017 / National Gallery of Macedonia, Skopje, Macedonia, 2017 / Art for Change 1985-2015, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2015 / Close Encounter, Jeju Museum, South Korea, 2010 / Surplus Enjoyment, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, 2010 / Micro-Narratives, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMC), Saint-Étienne, France, 2008 / Contemporary Art Biennial, Quebec, Canada, 2008 / European Attitude, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, 2008 / Desire and Resistance Determine the Motion, Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS), France, 2007 / ASIA – EUROPE Mediations, National Museum (Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu/MNP), Poznan, Poland, 2007 / Micro-narratives, October Salon (Oktobarski Salon), Belgrade, Serbia, 2007 / Play for Two Hands and Black, the façade of the National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria 2006 / Phases of Accumulation and Extraction in a Limited Space, National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2005 / Phases of Accumulation and Extraction in a Limited Space, Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS), France, 2006 / Currency, Galerie Mabel Semmler,  Paris, France, 2003 / Open – Closed, Museum of Contemporary Art (Muzej savremene umetnosti), Belgrade, Serbia, 2000, inter alia.

27 April 2018 - 27 May 2018

The exhibition has been structured as a study of the universal concept of roots, genetic memory, and the primal impulse to describe the world using the magic universality of the sign.

Artworks inspired by Neolithic art use layers of modernity combining into a single whole abstract imagery with recognizable details. Touching upon the symbolic richness and geometry of prehistoric means of expression, these artworks seek to represent a consolidated image of time and the human presence sealed in it.

Through the rich language of the paintings the artist offers an effortless translation of archaic symbols into relevant artistic, aesthetic, and philosophical interpretations.

The tailor-made exhibition created by the artist to fit the space of the Sofia City Art Gallery features 30 paintings. They are complemented by three cycles of terracotta works creating the sensation of authenticity and primal vitality.

An exhibition catalogue is available.

„All forms of Neolithic representations around the world constitute painting ensembles that are a combination of three major categories, namely geometrical motifs or abstract signs, animals, and human figures. This thematic and technical unity of prehistoric art harbors an amazing symbolic treasure which motivated me to interpret and create this cycle of paintings and terra cotta works entitled ‘Celestial Dog’.“

Zahari Kamenov

03 April 2018 - 05 August 2018

The exhibition Between Tradition and Modernism. Images of the Native in Bulgarian Art of the 1920’s is an attempt to present a segment of Bulgaria’s art scene between the early and the mid-20^th century. To a certain extent, the singling out of the 1920’s as a distinct period in the history of Bulgarian art was done by art critics for convenience, and is therefore used by this exhibition as a reference point with no strict time boundaries. This decade was a time of vigorous development of the art scene characterized by versatility and modernization. The exhibition is a compilation of artworks exemplifying various trends in the process of modernization, as well as continuation of the tradition of the preceding decades by young Bulgarian art. The artists’ focus of attention was the quest for a national identity and the creation of images epitomizing this concept. The exhibition was developed along four distinct thematic lines in Bulgarian art characteristic of the period, namely interpretations inspired by folk tales and epics, artworks drawing on Christianity and Christian heritage, interest in rites and rituals and representation of images of the Bulgarian countryside. Prints constitute a special component of the exhibition whose presentation of the highlights of the period is complemented by applied art exhibits.

The exhibition features artworks by iconic Bulgarian artists, namely Ivan Milev, Vladimir Dimitrov the Mater, Sirak Skitnik, Ivan Penkov, Nikolay Raynov, Pencho Georgiev, Ivan Lazarov, Nikola Kozhuharov, Boris Denev, Georgi Mashev, etc. The artworks presented in the exhibition come from the permanent collections of the following museums: Sofia City Art Gallery, National Art Gallery, Sofia, Museum of Reginal History, Sofia, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Archives State Agency, National Academy of Arts, SS Cyril and Methodius National Library, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Plovidv City Art Gallery, art galleries of the cities of Stara Zagora, Kazanlak, Kyustendil, Pazardzhik, Sliven, Shumen, Ruse, Samokov City History Museum, museums of regional history of the cities of Dobrich and Vratsa, as well as from private collections.

The project, which was brought to life with kind support from Aurubis Bulgaria AG and the Culture Program of the Sofia City Municipal Council Program, is dedicated to Bulgaria’s presidency of the EU Council.

The exhibition was curated by Adelina Fileva, Stanislava Nikolova, and Lyuben Domozetski. Other participants in the project include consultant Tatyana Dimitrova and artist Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova.

27 March 2018 - 22 April 2018

Mary Ellen Mark achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. She published photo-essays and portraits in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. For over five decades, she traveled extensively to make pictures that reflect a high degree of humanism. She is recognized as one of our most respected and influential photographers. Her images of our world's diverse cultures have become landmarks in the field of documentary photography. Her portrayals of Mother Teresa, Indian circuses, and brothels in Bombay were the product of many years of work in India. A photo essay on runaway children in Seattle became the basis of the academy award nominated film STREETWISE, directed and photographed by her husband, Martin Bell.
Her exhibition in Sofia will present more than forty black and white photographs from “Streets of the Lost”, “Celebrities”, “Attitude” and “Indian Circus” series, as well Prom, Twins and Indian Circus/Amazing Plastic Lady documentary films.

Mary Ellen received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award from the George Eastman House as well as the Outstanding Contribution Photography Award from the World Photography Organisation. She has also received the Infinity Award for Journalism, an Erna & Victor Hasselblad Foundation Grant. Among her other awards are the Cornell Capa Award from the International Center of Photography, the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the Matrix Award for outstanding woman in the field of film/photography, and the Dr. Erich Salomon Award for outstanding merits in the field of journalistic photography. She was also presented with honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from her Alma Mater, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of the Arts; three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Photographer of the Year Award from the Friends of Photography; the World Press Award for Outstanding Body of Work Throughout the Years; the Victor Hasselblad Cover Award; two Robert F. Kennedy Awards; and the Creative Arts Award Citation for Photography at Brandeis University. She also acted as the associate producer of the major motion picture, AMERICAN HEART (1992), directed by, Martin Bell.
Mary Ellen Mark participated in many international galleries and museum worldwide as; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), International Center of Photography, NY, MoCP - The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Kunsthal Rotterdam, FFI - Fotografie Forum international, Frankfurt/Main, etc.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Howard Greenberg’s Gallery (NY).  Howard Greenberg is widely recognised as one of the most prominent gallerists and art dealers in the field of photography. 

The exhibition is part of Masters of Photography – Edition IX is organised by MUSIZ Foundation, America for Bulgaria Foundation, in partnership with VIVACOM Art Hall and Sofia City Art Gallery, supported by Sofia Municipality.

20 March 2018 - 15 April 2018

In 1998, several like-minded friends decided to support Ivan Rusev’s idea about the creation of a sculpture park in the village of Ilindentsi, and went on to establish the Ilindentsi Art Center Foundation.

The beginning of this cultural venue can be traced as far back as 1992-1994 when Ivan Rusev succeeded in securing space for the venue in the village of Ilindentsi where the park keeps growing to this day. Initial support for the foundation included contributions by art connoisseur Zdravko Stoitsev, who supported the foundation for three years. The administration of the municipality of Strumyani, where the art center is being developed, provides substantial support to the initiative.

An area of 3 ha was gradually developed into a park including 47 artworks matching the natural scenery. Some of them, namely The Forum, a functioning amphitheater with seating capacity for more than 350 people; Lake Epiphany, where the race for the cross tossed in its waters takes place on the Christian holiday of Epiphany; and the stone-paved pathways, are large-scale projects within The Network sculptural project which came to life through the efforts of numerous participants. Naturally, they bring people from the village going through this Marble City or attending an event at the Center closer to contemporary sculpture.

Symposia and plein air painting events organized by the Art Center Ilindentsi Foundation over the past 20 years were attended by 164 artists from Bulgaria, Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Israel, India, Canada, Mexico, Romania, the USA, Slovakia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Japan. These events were notably attended by eight stone carvers from Sacuragawa, Japan, whose craft has been passed down through generations.

The exhibition presents sculptures and paintings by artists who participated in former actions, including Angel Stanev, Ani Pokrovnishka, Valentin Starchev, Dinko Stoev, Dolores Dilova, Emil Popov, Ivaylo Avramov, Ivaylo Mirchev, Ivan Rusev, Kalina Taseva, Cyril Meskin, Lyuben Genov, Milko Bozhkov, Monica Popova, Nina Ruseva, Svetlin Rusev, Svilen Blazhev, Stefan Lyutakov, Stoyan Tsanev.

The exhibition also features photographs of highlights of the sculpture park and of events organized by the Center. The photos are presented by: Darina Zlatareva, Stoyan Petkov, Mariana Ruseva, Marieta Konova, Tatyana Toteva, Cyril Valchev, Emil MIhaylov, etc.

The following films will be shown: Plain Shapes, director, writer: Stefan Dzhambazov, director of photography: Tsvetan Nedkov, 2004; The Marble City, director, director of photography: Gospodin Nedelchev, writer: Svetla Kamenova, 2007; Ilindentsi, Elevation 377, a film by Borimir Ilkov-Bono. A BNT reportage cycle of 4 films made between 2001 and 2008 will also be shown, director: Lyubka Borisova, writer Atanas Pironev, directors of photography: Alexander Karadzhov, Feodor Surgov.

The project was completed with kind support from the Culture Program of Capital City Municipal Administration.