Yesterday (June 1, 2017) in the bookstore of Building I of NBU the exhibition-discussion of Yasen Gyuzelev was presented. The exhibition includes boards with the most key and emblematic publications for children that the artist has illustrated over the years. Completely new compositional solutions are offered by this second "reading" of the illustrations, which, in addition to leaving the field of the book solution, have become independent easel works. At the back of the hall, several original drawings were also exhibited, which the audience knows well from previous exhibitions of Yasen Gyuzelev, but this time they had the opportunity to actually compare them with the printed reproductions.
The discussion was to be held by Krasimir Iliev (curator at the Sofia City Art Gallery) and Prof. Dr. Georgi Lozanov, unfortunately Mr. Iliev was prevented from attending and was not present. “The new thing comes from the fact that finally his works are exhibited in a library. I think there is no more suitable artist than him to have his works exhibited in a library – the library should be his gallery” – began the conversation Prof. Dr. Georgi Lozanov.
The images that Yasen Gyuzelev creates have always been an object of interest from the audience, even since the time when there was talk in artistic circles about “one illustration of Alice on one whole sheet”. His surrealistic types and situations directly enter the “stream of consciousness” of the reader through the text. The illustrator often looks for different layers that would further burden the image of the characters. Good and evil, morality and the border are rarely unambiguous, because the characters themselves wander in their choices. The era, the past is a fundamental element in the development of each illustration, and the magic they radiate turns the magical world of the fairy tale into a real one.
“In all cases, his images are also self-portraits. In a way, he is present. He has transferred his self into them, among them, somewhere inside. Sometimes the resemblance is even disturbing,” emphasizes Prof. Lozanov. The author, for his part, very clearly and frankly responded to this direction of the conversation: “One thing is that I consciously enter with all the responsibility and risk with an image, but there is another point – I do not have the opportunity to use models. Except very rarely my wife and daughter, who play the role of a male back or something similar. But when they are not at hand, I have a piece of mirror with which I transform into whatever I want, but deep down behind my features are clearly visible.”
The event was also attended by other prominent Bulgarian artists such as Kiro Mavrov and Vladislav Paskalev. The exhibition will remain in the bookstore until the end of June.
Photos: Milena Radeva
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