site.btaCelebrity Portraits by British Photographer Andy Gotts Displayed in Pleven

London-based celebrity portrait photographer Andy Gotts is holding an exhibition at Katya Popova Hall in Pleven, organized by MadePro Foundation with the support of Pleven City Hall. The exhibition presents photos of popular international actors, musicians and models, and can be seen until November 28.

In April, the show was staged in Sofia, and Gotts attended the opening, MadePro co-founder Ivelin Iliev told BTA.

Forty-five portrait photographs are displayed in Pleven. “It was very hard to choose which ones to show, because Andy Gotts has photographed over 7,000 celebrities, and we needed to pick works that the Bulgarian audience would like,” Iliev said. The selection includes portraits of Robert De Niro, Sting, Penelope Cruz, Julia Roberts, Naomi Campbell and Al Pacino.

None of the works bears the name of the model, just the title of the exhibition and the photographer’s signature. “The beauty about photography is that we can leave some mystery in the picture to challenge the viewer rather than show them everything,” Iliev commented.

The photos have captured the celebrities in various moods and states. This is important for the British artist, Iliev explained. From his conversations with Gotts, Iliev learned that he spends 45 minutes with each of his models allowing them the freedom to do whatever they want. Gotts wants his subjects to feel at ease and do things which they would not normally do on the street. “In this way, he makes everyone be themselves while being photographed,” Iliev said.