Bulgarian sculptor and painter Ivaylo Savov is better known abroad than in his home country.

His artwork are part of the collections of Belgian crown prince Philippe, Anne Theresa De Savoy d’Este, the Olympic museum in Lausanne and the Mithal Collection in Mumbai, to name just a few. Savov rarely shows his works in Bulgaria; his last exhibition in the country was in 2005, but that is about to change.

On October 15 2009, Savov will open an exhibition including both sculptures and paintings in Antwerp. Before that, Bulgarian audiences will be able to see the exhibition in Sofia at Arena di Serdica for two days; September 25 and 26.

Among the sculptures in the exhibition will be a large statue of a horse and a clown bestowing a kiss, along with dozens of smaller works.

Organisers of the two exhibitions, Bulgarian-Belgian Greencat Gallery, describe Savov as "one of the most emblematic contemporary sculptors and painters".
Greencat Gallery, which opened its doors in Sofia in 2004, and has since expanded to Antwerp, The Hague and Luxembourg, has always shown both Bulgarian and international artists.

In Sofia, the gallery uses several exhibition spaces, including the Arena di Serdica hotel and the Hilton hotel.
In 2008 and 2009, it organised several very successful art auctions that brought drawings, aquarelles, sketches, studies and graphics under the hammer.

Big name artists
Greencat Gallery is known for the quality of artists it shows. One of the highlights of the coming year, according to gallery owner Kurt Houbrechts, is an exhibition of works by Rik Vermeersch in Sofia in November 2010. The exhibition, which is to coincide with Belgian culinary week, will bring approximately 40 works to Sofia. The works were previously exhibited in the Flemish parliament in Brussels.

After Sofia, the exhibition is to move to The Hague.
Houbrechts is happy they have been able to get Vermeersch to agree to an exhibition in Sofia.
"Vermeersch exhibits his work in public spaces and museums across Europe. But artists of his stature tend to refuse, or are sceptical about, exhibitions in Bulgaria," Houbrechts says.

"Vermeersch is probably one of the biggest contemporary names to show in Sofia in 2010," he says.
In his paintings, Vermeersch constructs his works horizontally, line by line, very much like an ink-jet printer would print. His works show human figures without decoration, often erotic, sometimes borderline pornographic. As most of his models face the viewer and look directly at the viewer, the works of Vermeersch are intensely expressive.

Vermeersch was originally a painter, but since the late 1980s he has also created sculptures in wood, bronze and plaster.
In atelier notes, published on his website (http://rickvermeersch.be>), Vermeersch says his "fascination for visual reality is triggered by the realisation that what we perceive is doomed to disappear. The image resembles a soap-bubble that exhibits its magnificent colours, just when it is about to explode."

The Vermeersch exhibition in Sofia will take place at the Greencat Hilton.