Vernissage on Friday, 24 September, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., in compliance with all anti-epidemic measures and with controlled access.
‘A retrospective exhibition follows the path of paintings, themes, projects. I leave it to the viewer’s judgement to make sense of the ideas and profession of the artist—the same as that of my grand-grandfather Ivan Zograph from Kocherinovo.’
Alzek Misheff
The ‘great return’ of the artist to his homeland was organised on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Over 140 artworks are exhibited in 13 galleries at The Palace. The project is organized by the National Gallery, with the financial support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia and in collaboration with DOMA Art Foundation. Ivo Milev and Boryana Valchanova are the curators.
Alzek Misheff is a kind of legend among his colleagues in Bulgaria. The descendant of an old iconographers’ family, and a graduate of the Academy of Arts in Sofia, he left his homeland in the early 1970s, creating a remarkable international career for himself. Owing to his famous performance, ‘Swimming Across the Atlantic’ (1979–82), his biography was embellished with the rumour that he had escaped the regime by swimming, leading to the myth of the heroic artist who squared the circle in the name of creative freedom.
Painter, conceptual artist, performer, experimenter, avant-gardist, musician, lecturer… In this exhibition, Alzek Misheff presents his creative flight, placing us in an almost unparalleled situation: and not only because of the mix of his achievements in their broad artistic range and large-scale manifestations of an avant-garde spirit, where painting still occupies a significant place. In an extremely short time, he became a well-known name, occupying a worthy place and enjoying popularity in the artistic circles of the West. Way back in 1976, Misheff was Included in the book, ‘Europe/America: the Different Avant-gardes’, by Achille Bonito Oliva, which presented the oeuvres of the most prominent 30 European and 30 American artists.
