Critique by Chavdar Popov 
2020

A FIELD OF CREATIVE ANXIETY

14.08.2020

Alexander Kaprichev’s solo exhibition
dedicated to 75 years of the artist’s birth
at Varna City Art Gallery, 7th – 26th August 2020
Alexander Kaprichev’s exhibition at Varna City Art Gallery, has justified in the most adequate manner
a jubilee that could not happen, as this year the artist, who suddenly passed away twelve years ago,
would have turned 75.
The exposition, thoughtfully selected is an “impressive excerpt” from his artwork that unfolds before
the public, underpinning undoubtedly his contribution to Bulgarian art despite the delayed due
respect in comparison with the panorama of well-known, or less known names in art of the second
half of the 20th century.
There are artists who do not promote themselves on TV screens, their names do not take prime of
place in newspaper reviews, and neither do they get central display in exhibition halls. As time goes
by, though, the main figures supported by the status quo who enjoyed certain privilege, inevitably
lose their status of importance. Alexander Kaprichev, however, is one of those authors who humbly
and quietly got on with his pursuits, and now he stands out as a devoted and morally responsible
master.
If we are to make an attempt to characterise his credo, we should point out to the following: The
interpretation and attitude to the painting matter in his artworks stand out with their pulsating
intensity, the rich nuances and grading of the hues. In general, his artwork despite
its specific motives or topic is never completed in the traditional sense of the word. It is in a state of
“happening”, vibrating as if in a whirl of continuous shaping, or of sometimes strenuous
materialisation.
We witness the main phases in building up of the painting fabric, which gradually crystallises into
various solutions of texture, alternating the smooth plane and the relief.
In such an approach, the picture emerges primarily as a kind of terrain, a topos for reflecting certain
dynamic conflicts, a stop on the way to an unknown place, a "field" charged with anxiety, fever and
tension. For Kaprichev, the painting, or the canvas are not a pier, harbouring a balance achieved once
and for all. For him, there seems to be no tranquility and final harmony. The world is (woven in) a
milieu of contradictions, and those contradictions incessantly give impulse to the act of creation.
This painterly manner is derived, obviously, from a kind of plastic view embraced by him. Therefore,
Alexander Kaprichev is one of those artists for whom the tragedy and drama of our existence, of
human existence on the planet, is of paramount importance.
On the other hand, however, he is an artist who pays great attention to aesthetics, to the plastic
completion of the artwork. Therefore, should we regard harmony beyond the sense of the accepted
standards, it should be sought mostly within the tonal comparisons, in the colourful solutions (local,
"small harmonies"), in the selection of colour schemes. Existential conflicts, paradoxically at first
glance, find their special counterpoint in the closed and autonomous "self-sufficient" plastic world of
the artwork.
The author often develops the compositional structure of the painting, on geometric elements and
introduces certain linear patterns and rhythmic groups, frequently combined with awe-inspiring
brushstrokes, richly nuanced as tonal planes and texture. The painter's credo is emphatically oriented
towards the non-figurative. If there are figures, they are usually "closed" in themselves, non-
communicative, acting as single encapsulated "monads", often impenetrable in their deep-seated
enigmas.
The artist loves the immense, imaginary, boundless pictorial spaces, and sometimes applies a rapidly
"running" perspective, at other times he elaborates on detail and focuses on the two-dimensional
plane of the pictorial substance itself. This allows him to develop his talent both on the scale of the
large size composition and in the small formats as well.
In conclusion, the stylistic dominant for the greater part of Alexander Kaprichev's artwork, is the lyrical
abstraction, paradoxically combined with elements of abstract expressionism. The tension between
the forces of attraction and detraction, between the figurative and the non-figurative beginning in the
plastic formation is important. "Binary" oppositions such as harmony / conflict, overflow / contrast,
etc. are both worldview and formal elements of the artist's syntax, through which the essence of the
visual image and its impact on the viewer is achieved.
This exhibition, together with the overall work of the artist, is a contribution to the still unwritten
history of Bulgarian art of the twentieth century and obviously a tribute to the memory of Alexander
Kaprichev.