ИЗКУСТВО-ПРИРОДА Габровци 2025

ЧЕТИРИНАДЕСЕТО ИЗДАНИЕ

Повече за събитието в текста на Петер Пал – художник, изкуствовед, куратор и специален гост на изданието

The Gabrovtsi Naturе Art Symposium 

I imagine a network growing spontaneously, uncontrollable, the basic cells being people like us. Artists with the same sensibility for nature with a certain approach to all what is correct, right, sustainable. We can meet and bind friendships and to meet again years or decades later or we can meet a friends friend on a similar spot of this net, being in Bulgaria, France , Korea or South Africa.

Here in Gabrovtsi, I believe, is one of the typical key-points where all the artists give their best in their approach to nature.

This year’s event is not different from other years. The abundance of materials, the logs, wood, laying in the backyard, straw, gras, stones of the river gives the opportunity for the creation of exciting works.

I’ll try to mention some of the artist handling this diversity of stuff.

The large logs are transformed in spectacular huge geometrical structures by Orfey Mindov, in rough or detailed sculptures and installations by Rumen Dimitrov. as are his spaces for meditation or gigantic chairs.

Rodolfo Liprandi is using rough branches in order to construct his tribute to animals, as many times in his works, proving his knowledge of anatomy and handling three-dimensional forms.

Nayden Kolev is constructing perilous, delicate structures with heavy stones and thin branches. The bulk, mass of gras from the meadows and forest woven and sewn transforms in gripping carpet descending from the forest to the river in Tereza Holy’s work, and to a perceived infinite string connecting human and nature in Onongua Enkhtur’s rope. Weaving the horse mane from gras, symbolizing the essence of living beings.

The material of Tereza Tomanova is also natural, but surprising in the spot, the sheep’s wool, creating a contrast with the trees and green leaves of the forest, growing in a giant mushroom.

The comet Of Mike Chauvel is using rusty wire mesh, offering a contrast of human interference and nature, a translucent object with the play of penetrating lights of the forest in this hilarious ball.

Kaya Tsenkulovska is touching gently and exploring almost elusive, intangible materials like moss and feeble branches creating her hallucinating installations.

Cristian Seusan is working tireless parallel on several works making a scarecrow, a hovel out of branches and straw and leaving several marks on the stones of the river.

The one who is working with the minimum material is Bob Budd, but in spite of it, I consider his work important. Marking just a rusty water tank with flour, grabbing attention to its existence, making a drawing with charcoal on a board and writing a poem of T.S.Eliot on the bridge about the start and arrival or return, meditating about our presence in a certain place. And all this is ephemeral like our being there.

We must view also the work of Kalin Mihov, who is proposing us a deep hole in the earth, intended  to be a place for meditation, the grotesque approach of Bogomil Ivanov of presenting the conservation of nature is the glass jars of our kitchen pantry, the powerful masks of Lidia Karkelanova, taking us to an archaic and ghostly space and time, Iliyana Grigorova, who is transferring our everyday square game to nature and minimalistic interventions of Katerina Milusheva of coloring leaves and touching soil.

Last but not least the photographers Slavcho Slavov and Kaloyan Bogdanov were doing their best in documenting the artists’ work and all the assistants should be reminded, not just for managing our everyday life but also for working simultaneously on their artwork.

Thanks to Duppini group Gabrovtsi became an important stage in the nature art net. That is why I’m happy to return here any time. I’m not the only one.