site.btaGerman Artists to Exhibit Works in Bulgarian Gallery, Bulgarian Ones in Germany

German curator Anna Kimmerly presented for the first time in Sofia a selection of 24 paintings by European artists. They were shown at Gallery Vivacom Art Hall Oborishte 5 in the days prior to Christmas. 

With this exhibition, a partnership was signed, under which German artists will present their works in the Bulgarian gallery, and Bulgarians will exhibit theirs in the German AK Galerie Berlin.

Most of the represented artists are German, gallerist Venelin Bonchev told BTA. 

The style of Alexander Dik's exhibited works can be described as naivism. "It can't be said to be his style, but at the moment he is trying to represent children's drawings - the freedom and innocence and unintentionality with which a child paints on canvas. The work is constructed using traditional painting methods," Bonchev said.

Raul travels extensively. His work is inspired by his travels, the different cultures he encounters, the artists he meets, Bonchev said.

Albert Mertz is represented with digitally printed works. The paintings shown in Sofia are a rather limited edition.

Barbara Pecora has studied calligraphy and so texts are pretty much her work. "Each of her works is sort of a diary of her excitement, of events in her life that provoked her to create the work in question," said Venelin Bonchev. The exhibition also features a painting of hers from another period. 

"It is not at all like the diary paintings. It is exquisitely signed, which shows the calligraphy. In the other two, which resemble posters, the fonts and the stylization of the letters are quite measured, everything is deliberate, everything is intentional," explained Bonchev.

According to him, Anna Van Den Houvel grew up between the Alps and the big city and her work has exactly that - natural motifs mixed with elements from the metropolis. She uses concrete and epoxy resin in her work. "Her idea is, because she also travels a lot, that these are the places she has seen from a bird's eye view," Bonchev explains. "Purely stylistically, there is a colourfulness and yet a slight coldness and distance. It also makes an impression of a slightly darker and more serious tone. Yet it is in a kind of symbiosis with nature and the natural motifs it has tried to portray. Because in a way they are also organic," he explained.