Keisuke Yamamoto’s “Light Time Silence 22”
are two of the 15 works by Japanese
artists to be shown at the National Foreign
Art Gallery as part of the Contemporary
Art Prints from Japan and Bulgaria exhibition.
The National Foreign Art Gallery is hosting a unique meeting of Bulgarian and Japanese art in an exhibition of Contemporary Art Prints from Japan and Bulgaria. From November 5 to 30, the halls of the gallery in Alexander Nevski Square, at 1, 19 February Street, will show to art admirers the best of the graphic art of both countries.
The works of 30 artists from Japan and Bulgaria will be on display showing the best examples of graphic art created over the past few years. Bulgarian participants include artists who have gained fame over the past 20 or even 30 years, such as Rumen Scorchev, Nikolai Maystorov, Ivan Ninov and Milko Bozhkov. Their Japanese counterparts include renowned artists such as Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, Seiko Kawachi, Tetsuya Noda, as well as artists from the younger generation such as Rika Saito, Yuka Oshita and Chiaki Shuji.
The exhibition is organized by the Lessedra Gallery together with the Japanese Embassy in Bulgaria, the Japan Foundation and the Union of Bulgarian Artists under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.
The idea for the joint exhibition first came last spring during the visit to Bulgaria of Akira Kurosaki, a professor at the department of printmaking and papermaking with the Kyoto Seika University, said Georgi Kolev, owner of the private Bulgarian gallery Lessedra. The gallery was chosen by the Japanese participants to be the main organizer of the event.
The exhibition in Sofia is only part of the joint Japanese-Bulgarian project. A travelling exhibition of Bulgarian graphic art will also tour large cities in Japan in 2002.
Along with the exhibitions, special art catalogues are being prepared. The first one, titled Contemporary Japanese Prints, will be presented at the opening of the exhibition on November 5. According to Kolev, the catalogue is rather a monograph of Japanese graphic art because it consists of works by the 15 Japanese participants in the exhibition as well as an analysis of contemporary Japanese prints by Noriaki Seo, curator of The SHOTO Museum of Art in Tokyo.
“These artists consider printmaking as one of many possible directions they may choose from and try deliberately to let their work roam free over the vast terrain of art,” wrote Seo in his analysis entitled The Art of Perception and Viewpoints. “Instead of exploring the meaning or structure of printing, they make it reflect in their expressions in a more general way while working with various media.”
The Contemporary Art Prints from Japan and Bulgaria exhibition is part of the days of Japanese Culture which will continue until the end of November. The organizers of the Days, from the Japanese Embassy and the Japan Foundation, have prepared a lecture on Japanese Haiku poetry on November 7, at 7pm at Interpred’s Sofia Hall. A Japanese poet will explain the rules for creating haiku poems and acquaint the audience with the history and distribution of that famous type of poetry around the world.
An exhibition of contemporary Japanese crafts will open on November 9 at the Foreign Art Gallery and will show 64 traditional craft works until November 22. The aim of the exhibition is to show the influence that the different epochs have had on the development of traditional crafts of Japan.
The musical side of Japanese culture will bring the days to a close with a jazz concert on November 17, at 7pm at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. Six musicians from the band Toru Nakajima Project-Latin-Jazz-Japonisimo will play jazz and Latino music with elements of Japanese pop.
The works of 30 artists from Japan and Bulgaria will be on display showing the best examples of graphic art created over the past few years. Bulgarian participants include artists who have gained fame over the past 20 or even 30 years, such as Rumen Scorchev, Nikolai Maystorov, Ivan Ninov and Milko Bozhkov. Their Japanese counterparts include renowned artists such as Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, Seiko Kawachi, Tetsuya Noda, as well as artists from the younger generation such as Rika Saito, Yuka Oshita and Chiaki Shuji.
The exhibition is organized by the Lessedra Gallery together with the Japanese Embassy in Bulgaria, the Japan Foundation and the Union of Bulgarian Artists under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.
The idea for the joint exhibition first came last spring during the visit to Bulgaria of Akira Kurosaki, a professor at the department of printmaking and papermaking with the Kyoto Seika University, said Georgi Kolev, owner of the private Bulgarian gallery Lessedra. The gallery was chosen by the Japanese participants to be the main organizer of the event.
The exhibition in Sofia is only part of the joint Japanese-Bulgarian project. A travelling exhibition of Bulgarian graphic art will also tour large cities in Japan in 2002.
Along with the exhibitions, special art catalogues are being prepared. The first one, titled Contemporary Japanese Prints, will be presented at the opening of the exhibition on November 5. According to Kolev, the catalogue is rather a monograph of Japanese graphic art because it consists of works by the 15 Japanese participants in the exhibition as well as an analysis of contemporary Japanese prints by Noriaki Seo, curator of The SHOTO Museum of Art in Tokyo.
“These artists consider printmaking as one of many possible directions they may choose from and try deliberately to let their work roam free over the vast terrain of art,” wrote Seo in his analysis entitled The Art of Perception and Viewpoints. “Instead of exploring the meaning or structure of printing, they make it reflect in their expressions in a more general way while working with various media.”
The Contemporary Art Prints from Japan and Bulgaria exhibition is part of the days of Japanese Culture which will continue until the end of November. The organizers of the Days, from the Japanese Embassy and the Japan Foundation, have prepared a lecture on Japanese Haiku poetry on November 7, at 7pm at Interpred’s Sofia Hall. A Japanese poet will explain the rules for creating haiku poems and acquaint the audience with the history and distribution of that famous type of poetry around the world.
An exhibition of contemporary Japanese crafts will open on November 9 at the Foreign Art Gallery and will show 64 traditional craft works until November 22. The aim of the exhibition is to show the influence that the different epochs have had on the development of traditional crafts of Japan.
The musical side of Japanese culture will bring the days to a close with a jazz concert on November 17, at 7pm at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. Six musicians from the band Toru Nakajima Project-Latin-Jazz-Japonisimo will play jazz and Latino music with elements of Japanese pop.
