Лого на Софийска Градска Художествена Галерия
Анимация по време на зареждане


IN THE LABELLING GAP

05 April 2016 - 08 May 2016


The exhibition introduces group of Bulgarian artists, who tend to be grouped in an imprecisely defined professional category, according to their year of birth. The generation aged between 35 and 45 years no longer meets the definition of ‘young authors’, but it is too early for these artists to be labelled as ‘advanced’. Therefore, this age group is often deprived of application opportunities for residence, competitions, funding programmes, etc., even their participation in exhibitions is under question.
The position of this transitional generation in gallery life can vary with regard to the power and the degree of development of governmental institutions, private organisations or the market of art. Irrespective of the differences these factors present on the global and the Bulgarian artistic arena, and irrespective of their residence at the moment, the artists aged conditionally between 35 and 45 are interesting mainly because of their work.

The goal of the Sofia City Art Gallery is to present several authors, who typify this category, and still to try and classify their artistic endeavour. The link between the authors is not merely their age. Some of their works have become the possession of the Contemporary Art and Photography Fund of the Sofia City Art Gallery and were received as donations at an earlier stage of their development, when they were labelled as ‘young authors’. The exhibition will display some of these earlier works together with new ones, which have not been exhibited before or come to be part of projects of longer duration, still in the process of completion.

 







THE EXCHANGE

25 March 2016 - 06 April 2016


The exhibition presents Ivan Mudov’s latest works, which again and again face us with the (eternal) questions of what art is and what powers of impact it employs, does art establish connections or does it provoke reactions, where is art positioned in society… The entire artistic work is sprinkled with a considerable amount of irony, which doesn’t spare you the judgement of the ‘artist’s persona’, and of the work of art’s authorship and uniqueness.

The artist continues to surprise the viewer with his mixture of art-cocktails, which contain astonishing ingredients; again, he does not meet the audience’s traditional expectations and subjects its habits to suspicion. He uses a range of expressions and demonstrates his liberal outlook with both the traditional styles of artistic work and with the new technologies and techniques, which are particularly popular nowadays.

Ivan Mudov is one of the most active Bulgarian artists within his generation. He has an impressive biography of exhibition shows and individual displays with the most renowned art institutions around the world. Irrespective of the fact that most of his large-scale projects were accomplished abroad (unfortunately), those familiar to the Bulgarian audience range amongst the brightest manifestations of contemporary art. Among these we can list ‘Fragments’ (2002), an impressive collection of the world’s contemporary art ‘pieces’, created from amassed stolen parts of the works of famous artists, as well as the staging-up of the ‘official opening’ of a Museum of Modern Art in the building of the Poduene Railway Station, MUSIZ (2005), the provocative simulation of the construction of a business building resembling the demolished Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov and located on the same site (2012). These do not merely represent some of the most interesting achievements of modern Bulgarian art, but they also contribute to shaping the audience’s frame of mind and its perceptive attitudes.   

Curator: Yara Bubnova

Ivan Mudov was born in 1975, he graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia. The list of some of his individual exhibitions includes: Certificate of Authenticity, Tranzitdisplay, Prague,

Turbo Conceptualism, Kunstverein Milano, Milan

Certificate of Authenticity, Tobacna 001 Cultural Centre, Ljubljana, Air Drawing Contest, MUMOK, Vienna

“Stones”, Casa Cavazzini Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Udine, Performing Time”, prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Milan

The Glory Hole, Alberta Pane Gallery, Paris, France, 2012; %, W139, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2011; Wine to discover, Zürich, Switzerland, 2010; Ivan Mudov, Binz 39, Zürich, Switzerland, 2010; Trick or Treat, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, 2008; The 1st at Moderna: Ivan Moudov, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008. Mudov participated in the 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy, 2007, in the 1st Moscow Biennale, 2005, as well as in the Manifesta 4, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2002. Selected participations in group exhibitions: OFF- Biennale, Budapest; Grammar Of Freedom / Five Lessons: Works From Arteast 2000+ Collection, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Cote Interieur, Tiroler kunstlerschaft – Kunstpavillion, Innsbruck; Unexpected Encounters, Camera Austria, Graz; The Intransigent Ticket - The Artist as a Filter", Fine Arts Gallery, California State University; Doppio Gioco – Double Game The Ambiguity of the Photographic Image, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, Italy, 2012; Rearview Mirror: New Art from Central & Eastern Europe, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2012; Site Inspection – The Museum on the Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, 2011; Beziehungsarbeit - Kunst und Institution, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, 2011, etc. Mudov was awarded with scholarships by the resident programmes AIR by BINZ 39, Zürich, Switzerland, 2009; KulturKontakt, Vienna, 2008; Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 2008; Recollets, Paris, 2006, etc.

In 2006 he won the Young European Artist Award Trieste Contemporanea, and in 2010, he received the Gaudenz  B. Ruf Award for contemporary Bulgarian art in the Advanced Artists Category.

 













SILENT IMAGE AND BLIND TEXT

25 February 2016 - 23 March 2016


Research of the relation between text and its presence in world art has remained quite fragmentary. The first attempt at such a study, which also seems to be the only one, is the “Important Message” project, presented at the SCAG in 2006 by Maria Vasileva and Daniela Radeva, who focused on the use of text in Bulgarian art between the late 1980’s and 2006. Yet it is a fact that text has had a place in paintings by Bulgarian artists since as early as the 19th century. Therefore the “Silent Image and Blind Text” exhibition focusing on text and its place in Bulgarian visual arts over the period after 1856 is not just a follow-up to the “Important Message” project, but also an attempt at a comprehensive study of the relation between text and image in Bulgarian art –from the first secular 19th century paintings through to the most recent artistic output of the 21st century. What is more, the exhibition offers an approach to systematizing the physical presence of text in visual art, focusing on four major thematic units, namely “Descriptive text”, “Text and being”, “Intentionality of text”, and “Triumph of text”.

This project is an attempt at an overview of the physical presence of text (even its markers) in Bulgarian visual arts, where “text“ shall denote not only a group of written words and sentences, but also isolated words, syllables, letter and number graphemes. The exhibition features more than 120 works by artists including Nikolay Pavlovich, Stanislav Dospevski, Anton Mitov, Ivan Markvichka, Nikola Petrov, Ivan MIlev, Nikolay Raynov, Boris Georgiev, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Galin Mlakchev, Georgi Bozhilov – Slona, Tekla Alexieva, Rumen Gasharov, Andrey Daniel, Nedko Solakov, Lachezar Boyadzhev, Ventsislav Zankov, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, Krasimir Krastev – Rassim, Boryana Dragoeva – Rossa, Sasho Stoitsov, etc. Thus the exhibition allows viewers and researchers to follow the relation between text and image, and the shape it took over various historical periods, as well as to look at the whole variety of opportunities afforded to Bulgarian artists by the love and discord between text and image. Sometimes the relation appears surprisingly close, while other times it is unexpectedly distant.

The exhibition features works from the collections of the National Art Gallery, the National Academy of Fine Arts, the “Ivan Vazov” National Theater, the National Museum of Church History and Archaeology, the Union of Bulgarian Artists, the Sofia History Museum, the Plovdiv City Art Gallery, the “Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master” Kyustendil City Art Gallery, the Blagoevgrad Museum of Regional History, the “Dimitar Dobrovich” Sliven City Art Gallery, the “Nikolay Pavlovich” Svistov City Art Gallery, the “George Papazov” Yambol City Art Gallery, the “Svetlin Rusev” Atelier-Collection, and private collectors.

Curatorial project of Plamen V. Petrov and Ramona Dimova







LYUBEN ZIDAROV

08 December 2015 - 14 February 2016


Creative artistic longevity is not a very rare occurrence. But you don’t bump often into a situation where a well-known book illustrator who has shaped the visual and typographic equivalent of hundreds of oeuvres of world literature and has built his own pictorial and spiritual bridge to the writers of those books would embark on a backwards journey to the illustrations he had created half a century earlier.

The images of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper and Treasure Island are just a three of the multitude of well-remembered and easily distinguishable book illustrations that Lyuben Zidarov had done during the 60ies and the 70ies for a great number of clas-sical young readers’ novels like H.C. Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights, The Count of Monte Cristo, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann or Nikolay Raynov, the adventure stories of Karl May, Mayne Reid or Jules Verne.

2014 and 2015 saw a new interest of Lyuben Zidarov in his old illustrations for Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper and Treasure Island by in accepting the self-challenge of drawing updated versions of these popular images by way of upholding the original visualized moments and their outlines. The difference lies in what is the most essential content of an illustration: the attitude of the illustrator towards the story and its protagonists. This is achieved by Zidarov through the use of an enhanced palette on one side and most profoundly through his artistic innovations made possible by the decades of acquired professional mastery coupled with the wisdom of old age. At the end of this road one finds a unique amalgam between the art of book illustration and the art of painting.

The exhibition Treasure Island Half a Century Later is putting on display all the original new illustrations for the three abovementioned novels alongside reproductions of a num-ber of their earlier versions some of those 50 years of age now. The fourth book on show bear an intrinsic cohesion with R. S. Stevenson’s classic buccaneer epic Treasure Island, namely its sequel Silver, written nowadays by an acclaimed contemporary author – the for Poet Laureate of Great Britain Andrew Motion.  

As it has become apparent that Stevenson’s Treasure Island retains a special place as the in Lyuben Zidarov’s artistic biography and a focal point of the whole show, the exhibi-tion has been supplemented by a small documental part exploring the history of illustrat-ing the famous novel. There are also a number of reproductions from its first British and American editions from the 1880ies. 

The new Bulgarian editions of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper and Treasure Island were published by Zaharij Stoyanov Publishing House while Silver was printed by another publisher - Prozoretz as a limited to 150 numbered copies edition, each one containing an original signed lithograph by Lyuben Zidarov. All four titles will be available to buy at the City Art Gallery’s bookstore.      

 







WHY GRAPHICS?Works from the Graphic Fund of the Sofia City Art Gallery

01 December 2015 - 07 February 2016


Images in print graphics are the result of a long and somewhat secret pro-cess. The labour accompanying the development of the graphic idea is hardly associated with artistic work. The work’s metamorphoses during the different phases of the technology remain concealed for the viewer who observes and values the final art product – the graphic imprint.
The question why some artists prefer the complex process of graphic techniques to the direct representation in order to express their personal conception of the world touches on the very essence of graphic art. The exhibition at the Sofia City Art Gallery displaying selected works from the graphic collection of the Gallery suggests different answers to this question. More than 190 works of 80 artists show the dynamic development of print graphics in Bulgaria from the middle of the 18th century to the first decades of the 21st century. The exhibition gives a broad picture of the changes that have occurred in the way graphics has been perceived from the Revival to present days demonstrating the relation between various technological techniques and their artistic equivalent.

The exhibition shows works of some of the first print makers during the Bulgarian Revival such as Georgi Hr. Klinkov, Anastas Karastoyanov, Dimitar Shterev, and Nikola Obrazopisov; emblematic artists for the Bulgarian graphics such as Vasil Zahariev, Pencho Georgiev, Nikolay Raynov, Veselin Staykov, Pavel Valkov, and Peter Morozov; as well as some of the highest achievements of Bulgarian graphics in the second half of the 20th century in the works of Todor Panayotov, Anastasya Panayotova, Rumen Skorchev, Ivan Ninov, Stoimen Stoilov, Stoyan Tsanev, Maria Duchteva, Milko Boyadzhiev, Hristo Kardzhilov, Yavora Petrova and many others.

A catalogue of the exhibition is available as well.
 







Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects 1963-2014

14 September 2015 - 22 November 2015


Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects 1963-2014” is the two artists’ first major retrospective in Bulgaria. It is organized with the exclusive support of Christo.
The exhibition comprises 130 original numbered editions of prints and objects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude and photographs by Wolfgang Volz of their works dating from 1963 through 2014. Christo himself has compiled the collection to present the two artists’ oeuvre around the world. It traces in exhaustive detail, both chronologically and thematically, Christo’s progress as an artist on his own and his collaboration with Jeanne-Claude, which led to some of the most remarkable projects in contemporary art: Wrapped Reichstag, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Running Fence, The Gates, The Umbrellas, Surrounded Islands, Over The River, The Mastaba, etc. The exhibition includes a number of projects that were never realized but form an important part of the two artists’ creative thinking.
As it is known, Christo and Jeanne-Claude do not accept sponsorship for their projects, which they fund entirely through the sale of preparatory drawings, most often available in various graphic techniques. Moreover, the large-scale projects are temporary and are recorded only in preliminary sketches and photographs. That is why the works that will be on view at the Sofia City Art Gallery form an important part of their work.
Christo, who is turning 80 this year, personally designed the arrangement of the works in the halls of the Sofia City Art Gallery and provided most of the financing needed to organize the exhibition. In addition, it is taking place with support from Sofia Municipality, under the patronage Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova, Mayor of Sofia.
With support from the America for Bulgaria Foundation
Partners: Goethe-Institute Bulgaria, Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio, IDEA comm, METROREKLAMA, BILBORD, UNION OF THE ARTISTS IN BULGARIA


* * *
Christo: American, Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, June 13, 1935, Gabrovo, of a Bulgarian industrialist family. 1953-56 Studies at the National Academy of Art, Sofia. 1958 Arrives in Paris, where he meets Jeanne-Claude. 1964 The two take permanent residence in New York City.

Jeanne-Claude: American, French-born Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat, June 13, 1935, Casablanca, of a French military family. Educated in France and Switzerland. Died November 18, 2009, New York City.

Major projects: Wall of Oil Barrels – The Iron Curtain, Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62; Air Package, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 1966;  Wrapped Fountain and Wrapped Medieval Tower, Spoleto, Italy, 1968; 5,600 Cubicmeter Package, documenta IV, Kassel, 1967-68; Wrapped Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1968-69; Wrapped Floor and Stairway, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1969; Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia, 1968-69; Wrapped Monuments, Milan, Italy, 1970; Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72; Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76; Wrapped Walk Ways, Jacob Loose Park, Kansas City, Missouri, 1977-78; Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-83; The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85; The Umbrellas, Japan-USA, 1984-91; Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-95; Wrapped Trees, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997-98; The Wall – 13,000 Oil Barrels, Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, 1998-99; The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005; Big Air Package, Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, 2010-13. Works in progress: The Floating Piers, Project for Lake Iseo, Italy (2016), The Mastaba, Project for United Arab Emirates (since 1977) and Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado (since 1992).

Филмова програма / Film Program

15 септември - 22 ноември / 15 September – 22 November

▌ „Граница на мечтите“, режисьор Георги Балабанов, продукция на френския ТВ канал ARTE, 1996, 72 мин. (на български език / in Bulgarian language)

Всеки вторник от 14.00 / Every Tuesday from 2 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Umbrellas, 1995. Henry Corra, Grahame Weinbren and Albert Maysles, 81 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всеки вторник от 17.00 ч. / Every Tuesday from 5 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Umbrellas, 1995. Henry Corra, Grahame

Weinbren and Albert Maysles, 81 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всеки сряда от 14.00 / Every Wednesday from 2 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates. A film by Antonio Ferrera. Albert and David Maysles, and Matthew Prinzing, Maysles Films, 2007, 98 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всеки сряда от 17.00 ч. / Every Wednesday from 5 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Christo’s Valley Curtain, 1974. David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Ellen Hovde, 28 min. Running Fence, 1978. David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin and Albert Maysles, 58 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всеки четвъртък от 14.00 / Every Thursday from 2 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Islands, 1986. Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin and David Maysles, 57 min. Christo in Paris, 1990. Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Deborah Zwerin and Susan Froemke, 58 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всеки четвъртък от 17.00 ч. / Every Thursday from 5 pm

▌ „Christo от България”, филм на Евгения Атанасова-Тенева, 2015 (на български език / in Bulgarian language)

Всеки петък от 14.00 / Every Friday from 2 pm

▌ „Christo на 75“, един филм на Тома Томов, 2010, 52 мин. (на български език / in Bulgarian language)

Всеки петък от 17.00 ч. / Every Friday from 5 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Islands, 1986. Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin and David Maysles, 57 min. Christo in Paris, 1990. Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Deborah Zwerin and Susan Froemke, 58 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всяка събота от 14.00 / Every Saturday from 2 pm

▌ “Граница на мечтите“, режисьор Георги Балабанов, продукция на френския ТВ канал ARTE, 1996, 72 мин. (на български език / in Bulgarian language)

Всяка събота от 17.00 ч. / Every Saturday from 5 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates. A film by Antonio Ferrera. Albert and David Maysles, and Matthew Prinzing, Maysles Films, 2007, 98 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всяка неделя от 14.00 / Every Sunday from 2 pm

▌ Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Christo’s Valley Curtain, 1974. David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Ellen Hovde, 28 min. Running Fence, 1978. David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin and Albert Maysles, 58 min. (на английски език / in English language)

Всяка неделя от 16.00 ч. / Every Sunday from 4 pm

Лекционна програма / Lecture Program:

▌ Матиас Коденберг. Кристо преди Кристо: в търсене на българските

корени на художника (в рамките на „Градски разговори”, проект на Гьоте-институт България)

Matthias Koddenberg. Christo Before Christo: In Search of the

Artist’s Bulgarian Roots (in the frames of City Talks, a project of the Goethe-Institut Bulgarien)

▌ Лъчезар Бояджиев. Кристо и Жан-Клод – следва продължение...

Luchezar Boyadjiev. Christo and Jeanne-Claude – To Be Continued…

Датите на сайта на СГХГ / For the dates check http://sghg.bg







Competition for the BAZA Award

21 July 2015 - 30 August 2015


2015 marks the eight release of the BAZA Award for Contemporary Art Competition. The only one of its kind in Bulgaria, the award is aimed at artists aged 35 and under and grants a travel allowance and a month and a half residency in New York City. The competition is held in two rounds. Every year in spring a specialist jury shortlists four to eight young artists, who subsequently showcase their works in a general exhibition. On the opening day of the exhibition the jury sit yet again to select the winner of the award based on the artists’ exhibited works.

On the programme of the New York City residency, organized by the Foundation for a Civil Society, are meetings with curators, visits to galleries and art institutions, opportunities for cooperation with international artists as well as a chance for the artist to hold an exhibition and present their work. Enhanced professional contacts are also the result of BAZA’s being part of a network of similar awards competitions in about a dozen countries in Central and Eastern Europe (YVAA).

In Bulgaria BAZA goes back to the year 2008 when it was proposed by Maria Vassileva and set up by the Institute of Contemporary Art – Sofia. Upon completion of their residencies, award winners are granted a further opportunity of holding a solo exhibition at the ICA Gallery in Sofia. As a project partner the Sofia City Art Gallery offers its space and cooperation in organizing the nominees’ exhibition, whose curator is Daniela Radeva.

So far, winners of the BAZA Award have been: Rada Boukova (2008), Samuil Stoyanov (2009), Anton Terziev (2010), Vikenti Komitski (2011), Leda Ekimova (2012), Kiril Kuzmanov (2013) and Zoran Georgiev (2014).

The jury members for the 2015 competition are: Galina Dimitrova-Dimova (curator), Ivana Nencheva (artist), Vessela Nozharova (curator), Diana Popova (critic), Sasho Stoitzov (artist). For the past three years also sitting on the jury in the second round has been a US curator, holder of a Vilcek Foundation scholarship. This year this is Boshko Boskovic, an art historian and curator, Program Director of Residency Unlimited, New York.


Stela Vasileva was born in 1983 in Lovech. In 2006 she graduated in Mural Painting from the National Academy of Art. Between 2010 and 2015 she held six solo exhibitions. She is the winner of the Gaudenz B. Ruf Award for young artists (2010) and the First Prize for Fine Art in the National Competition for Young Artists, Critics and Curators of the St Cyril and St Methodius International Foundation (2009). Her work includes paintings, installations, objects and photography. She was a BAZA Award nominee in 2013. She lives in Sofia.


Vladislav Georgiev was born in 1979 in Sofia. In 2006 he graduated in Interior Design from the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim, Germany. He has experience in restoration and fashion design. He is the founder of the Nefela Bags fashion label. From 2008 to 2014 he organized eleven solo exhibitions in Sofia, Munich and Berlin. His work includes drawings, objects and installations. He lives in Sofia.

 

Kristina Irobalieva was born in 1982 in Sofia. In 2006 she graduated from the National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson, Nice. In 2007 and 2008 she specialized at the Geneva University of Art and Design. Her work includes paintings and installations. She has held three solo exhibitions in Paris and Geneva. She lives in Geneva.


Pavel Lefterov was born in1994 in Sofia. Since 2013 he has been a fine art student at the University of the Arts London – Wimbledon College of Arts. In 2010 he received the Academic Drawing Award of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. He was a BAZA Award nominee in 2012. His work includes predominantly paintings. He lives between London and Sofia.

 

Desislava Unger was born in 1980 in Sofia. In 2005 she graduated in Painting from NAA and in 2010 in Graphic Art from the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Between 2010 and 2014 she held eight solo exhibitions in Austria and Bulgaria. In 2005 and 2006 she received awards in the National Competition for Young Artists, Critics and Curators of the St Cyril and St Methodius International Foundation. Her work includes graphic art and drawings. She lives in Vienna.

  
Aleksandra Chaushova was born in 1985 in Sofia. In 2009 she graduated in Graphic Art from NAA. In 2012 she specialized in Painting at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf). Since 2012 she has been a PhD student of Art and Art Sciences at the Free University of Brussels. In 2010 she was a resident of the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels. In 2015 she was nominated for the Faber-Castell International Drawing Award. Her work includes predominantly drawings and objects. She lives in Brussels.

The BAZA award winner for 2015 is Alexandra Chaushova 

    







NUDE

17 June 2015 - 12 July 2015


The exhibition commemorates the 110th anniversary of the birth of renowned sculptor Vaska Emanuilova. Her aesthetical views and presence helped her shape her signature style and earn a prominent, well-deserved place in the history of Bulgarian sculpture. The major part of her artistic output comprises accomplishments in the nude body genre. Throughout her whole career as an artist, which spanned close to six decades, she would keep going back to this timeless theme – the human body at its most expressive, namely when in the nude. Vaska Emanuilova rediscovered it for herself, as well as for Bulgarian art through innovation. For her, the nude body is a storyline reflecting not only physical characteristics or formal attention to detail, but also something more profound, related to spirituality and life itself.

Works belonging to this genre created during various periods have been added to the SCAG collection through the years, thus building an intriguing collection. In 1999, the City Gallery presented the “Nude Body” exhibition, which featured numerous paintings and several sculptures.

The current exhibition features a substantial part of the artworks belonging to the “Nude Body” genre, stored at the SCAG “Sculpture” and “Graphic Arts” departments. The exhibition focuses on sculptures and drawings from the period between the 1930’s and the 1980’s, when Vaska Emanuilova created the bulk of her artwork. Also included in the exhibition are works by other Bulgarian artists, some of whom still show interest in the genre. The exhibition features more than 80 artworks from the SCAG collection belonging to the genres of sculpture, drawing, including pastel drawing, and watercolor painting. Viewers will see works by Lyubomir Dalchev, Mara Georgieva, Nikolay Shmirgela, Galin Malakchiev, Pavel Koychev, Thomas Kochev, Spartak Dermendzhiev, Pencho Dobrev, Emil Popov, Kiril Mateev, etc. The exhibition also features a presentation of drawings by Gredi Assa, Marco Behar, Svilen Blazhev, Georgi Pavlov – Pavleto, etc., both as an idiosyncratic counterpoint and a parallel, complementing storyline. Works featured in the exhibition reflect varying artistic approaches and styles, thus demonstrating the diversity of artistic expression in the domain of visual arts.







Caution: Wet Paint!

11 June 2015 - 30 August 2015


The exhibition presents the diverse trends in painting that have prevailed in the recent years in our country. It includes some of the latest works of 33 artists, whose average age is 30 years.

Such sizeable reviews of the current status of work types in contemporary art not only contribute to the research work of the museum, they also enable the public to receive a comprehensive view and impression of what happens in the art scene today.

During the last decade or so, several new generations of painter artists were introduced. Until today, there has not been organized a large and representative exhibition of their works that would reveal the changes in this kind of art.

Most of the artists are graduates of the National Academy of Arts, some studied painting in foreign countries as well. This affects to a certain extent the way they create their works in terms of style, message and general grasp of the substance of the painting. The exhibition enables us to identify the influences and the experience imparted by different artistic trends in Europe and around the globe, as well as to distinguish the individual style of the artists, regardless of their cultural background, professional experience, and education. The selected artists have versatile work methods and different interests in the variations of contemporary painting.

The exhibition displays abstract and figurative paintings, three-dimensional paintings, pictorial installations. The themes, concepts and stories cover the range from social issues through subjects concerning art itself to the intuitive recreation of thoughts or emotions by means of the pictorial material. In the presented works, the whole active visual surroundings is reflected - urban architecture, graffiti, moving and static ads, television, cinema, internet.

Part of the project is a bilingual color catalogue of 96 pages featuring the participants in the exhibition, and texts by the curators.





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Vaska Emanuilova Gallery