Култура

Zavarin Veselinov was born in 1965. in Velingrad, graduated from the art school "Iliya Petrov" and the Art Academy "Nikolay Pavlovich" in Sofia. From 1996 to 2002. He has solo exhibitions in the Boyana Church, Paris, the Russian Cultural Center in Sofia, the Art Gallery in Velingrad, the Hindulian House in Plovdiv. He has participated in exhibitions in Brussels, Cyprus, Amsterdam, USA, India, Israel. His graphics, paintings and icons are owned in private collections in many countries around the world and us, there are also redeemed by the National Art Gallery. On May 19 this year. in the National Museum "Earth and Man" in Sofia opens a solo exhibition of the Velingrad artist Zavarin Veselinov. The exhibition includes paintings and graphics that can be seen until May 15. More about the exhibition is told by the artist himself, to whom we wish success in another creative manifestation: - Mr. Veselinov, why exactly does the Earth and People Museum host your exhibition?
- The National Museum "Earth and Man" organizes the exhibition. This is really not a priority of the museum, because it is not a gallery. But some of the themes I paint can be summarized as "The Earth and the People". In the paintings I show, there is a certain symbolism and it is related precisely to the relationship between man and nature.
- What are the main themes you present in your paintings and graphics?
- I will mention several titles of paintings: "The Land of the Pharaohs" shows the struggle between good and evil on earth according to the biblical text; "Mirage" shows in a more abstract plan something imaginary, not specific pictorial, but symbolic. In many of the works I look for the place of man in the cosmopolitan world. Against the background of the pragmatic and material world, I create paintings that are an imaginary world and bring their interpretation to the theme of earth and people as a whole. I also show landscapes that are not naturalistic, but aim at suggestion outside the documentary landscape, bring a summary of something more than reality and convey a certain feeling. In this surreal context are also the graphs that show my abstract view of things. The paintings that are included in the exhibition are from the period 1002 - 2005.
- Right now you're painting in Velingrad. Is there a climate in our city for creating art?
- I have accumulated from many years of work in Sofia, where there is a huge dynamic of relations. There's definitely a difference. In Velingrad, one can collect one's thoughts, create a rhythm and build pictures that are deeper and more generalizing. For more than 20 years I have only been doing painting, and here I find things that charge me: a calm rhythm, a harmonized landscape, the tension of the big city is missing, one does not get nervous to such an extent from everyday life, which is relatively calm. Of course, the artist cannot be calm - to create art, there must be a nerve. I have learned to transform negative emotions into art, and in Velingrad the world is more harmonious and allows for a deeper look at what surrounds us. To create a painting, the artist must see it in depth and at the same time summarized, with a certain emotion.
- Does the Bulgarian today have senses of art?
My impression is that art is in crisis. Not a creative crisis of the artists themselves, because there are many examples that in worse conditions many quality things have been created and that the more difficult the being, the more vivid the works are. The crisis of art is now in the lack of sponsors; the purchasing power of the average Bulgarian is very low. Many people have a desire, but they do not have the opportunity to buy a picture, because art is a kind of luxury: first you have to think about food, clothing, family and only finally about the worldview and building a certain life philosophy. Possession of a painting shows an attitude towards life, knowledge, appreciation for a style in art. Prices of works of art have now fallen sharply, this is what the market dictates. Units are the artists who make sales and live by them and that is not a criterion whether you are a good or a bad artist. Similar is the situation not only in the field of fine art, but also in literature and music. But all these experiences clarify the senses of the artist, and he works precisely with the senses, emotions and feelings. So if an artist creates paintings, in a purely creative aspect he does not lose out on the hard life and the crisis. - What is the situation abroad, where you have also worked for years and presented exhibitions? - Abroad is even more difficult - not creating creativity, but being enslaved to orders that benefit some taste for creating copies of various classical works. In this I find the artist's scourging, he damages himself, he does not develop, and the only goal is some money. It is a commercialization of art due to a lack of funds for peaceful work and for creativity.
Elena Baeva