Critique by Iskra Pavlova
for
EXHIBITION :ALEXANDER KAPRICHEV IN MEMORIAM LINE AND COLOUR- Gallery 8
2016

EXHIBITION :ALEXANDER KAPRICHEV IN MEMORIAM LINE AND COLOUR – watercolour, drawings, sketches 15.08. – 5.09.2016

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The exhibition that opened at Gallery 8 on 15th August until 5th September 2016 willremind us of Alexander Kaprichev's art, one of the significant Varna artists.Alexander Kaprichev (1945-2008) was a graduate of the National Academy of Arts inMural Painting. His artistic life was closely knit within the community of his native city of Varnaand the emblematic hive of studios at the former FULCAN factory in one of which he workeduntil 1999 when he left for the UK. For about seven years he lived and worked at IndependentStudios Leicester and Birmingham.His professional artistic career is varied and spans decorative monumental art, murals,stained glass and tapestry, as well as fine art, painting, watercolour, drawing and graphic art.During his lifetime, Alexander Kaprichev participated in national and internationalexhibitions, Impresia Art Fair, Plovdiv, Varna Print Biennial, Saragossa, Spain, annual exhibitionsat Mall Gallery of The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, London, Independent Studios,Leicester, UK.After his sudden and untimely death in 2008, his family and colleagues have arranged anumber of exhibitions at Varna City Art Gallery, Sredets Gallery, Sofia , Academia Gallery of theNational Academy of Arts, Sofia Gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute, London and twice atGallery 8, Varna.He was awarded Special Mention for Excellence in painting at the London Art Biennale,2015 and X Florence Biennale, 2015. His artwork has been acquired by the National Art Gallery,Sofia, the Ministry of Culture, Varna City Art Gallery and private collectors in the country andabroad.Prof Chavdar Popov wrote about Alexander Kaprichev:Kaprichev was one of those artists who did not keep within, or opt for a strict linearsequence in their aesthetic and artistic evolution. He searched actively, experimented and wentbravely into varied kinds of techniques of the plastic arts, frequently going back with the singleaim of expanding and opening for himself new creative horizons.The exhibition, Line and Colour for the first time shows his more intimate work thatincludes drawings, sketches (some suggest sculptural shapes or projects) from different periodsof Alexander Kaprichev's art and five watercolours of the so called English Period, which hisfriend and colleague, Stoyan Petrov described as play of colours on white paper.The watercolours, as the dating on them suggests, were painted impulsively andconvey a kind of warm autumnal atmosphere. Alexander believed that naming a piece of artlimited its perception which explains the lack of titles to the majority of his artwork. Individualimagination is the key to appreciating art, abstract art in particular.

 

Iskra Pavlova