Contemporary painting exhibition – Bankya 2018 is the third edition of the project initiated by Art Center Bankya, which aims to introduce tendencies in painting through the vision of different curators and the authors they have chosen. Desislava Moneva was the first curator in the autumn of 2016. Her concept was to present famous and well realized artists – main figures from the 1990s, who have formed the vision of Bulgarian contemporary art during the last two decades. The idea was to present them with their current work, outside the context of their previous activity. The presence of those names with their current works at the same time in one exhibition hall was identified as a significant event. Thus, the success of that exhibition inspired this project in a long-term perspective for the development of reflections on contemporary painting. In 2017, when Svilen Stefanov and Miroslava Staneva were the curators, the exhibition included artists, working in parallel artistic fields - photography, graphic arts, sculpture, poster and conceptual art. That collection was also a study of the relations and the border fields in art that could be associated with the interaction of various artistic media and genres, as well as the actual results from them.

          This year the curator is Dimitar Yaranov, whose purpose is to present the many faces of contemporary art. He is a representative of the artists, who are interested in studying the current processes at each level, and interpret them through their work. The content of this exhibition is a look at the contemporary thinking in art, which is formed on the basis of freedom and diversity. The prevailing presence of painting in its most traditional form can be seen as a contribution in this year’s edition. This is not accidental as the themes in contemporary art may be numerous, but this is another occasion for us to talk about formal language and parameters of the contemporary art, which logically, after all forms of innovation, reveal the possibility to embody ideas through a traditional media such as painting. There are reasons behind that. The young audience does not perceive painting with the negative connotation of the post-totalitarian generation, and this is another possible reason to address the tendencies towards material substance.

For the selection of this year’s authors, Yaranov comments: "All of the artists consider themselves contemporary authors, which means they look around while regarding the processes and then react to them, and that’s why I can say that the artists who participate in the exhibition are constantly changing and really have the potential to surprise with something new." Their statements concern the present or are insights for the future. One cannot find topics related to melancholy or to the past. Even Kiril Cholakov and the topic that he discusses Dissection of the Memories is rather turned to the individual and the study of its values ​​in the present. The present is not aestheticized neither in the art of the  young artists Aleksandar Toshev and Angelariy Dimitrov (who are looking for other ways of viewing the world), not by authors such as Dinko Stoev, who have more than once mentioned that they would be terrified by such a tendency to make “beautiful” art . In my opinion there is no danger of such a process.

          These and others thoughts, provoked by this year’s curator Dimitar Yaranov on the subject of contemporary painting, can be seen by the end of November in the exhibition spaces of Art Center Bankya.

Contemporary painting – Bankya 2018

October, 4 – November 30, 2018
Participating artists:
Aleksandar Toshev, Angelariy Dimitrov, Dathim Dimov, Dimitar Yaranov, Dinko Stoev, Donka Pavlova, Elena Panayotova, Ivo Bistrichski, Iva Yaranova, Kiril Cholakov, Momchil Genov, Stefan Petrunov

Curator: Dimitar Yaranov