Vernissage on Wednesday, 28 April, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., observing all anti-epidemic measures and with controlled access.
The exhibition provides an opportunity to trace the way art functioned under the conditions of regulated and institutionalised artistic life in Bulgaria, as well as the mechanisms of its administration during Socialist rule. Over a period of some 40 years, general art exhibitions, whose status was determined by a preset thematic framework, were the only legitimate outlet for the involvement of artists in the creative process in the country. Refusal to participate doomed everyone to marginalisation and creative isolation.
Most of the 25 paintings on display from the collection of the Nikola Marinov Art Gallery, Targovishte, were created on the occasion of the Yastrebino General Art Exhibitions held in the town in 1976, 1981, 1986 and 1989. The artists presented include Stoyan Venev, Alexander Poplilov, Svetlin Rusev, Yoan Leviev, Dimitar Kazakov, Dimitar Kirov, and Teofan Sokerov. Of particular interest is the painting, ‘Execution’, by Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, in whose oeuvre there are no other works on a similar theme.
The exhibition also includes facsimiles, excerpts from reports and other documents, in an attempt to illustrate the complex system of administration of Bulgarian art and its dependence on the ideological apparatus of the Socialist state.
Nikolay Ushtavaliiski, exhibition curator
Deputy Director of the National Gallery
