Introspection

 


New commissioned self-portrait:

"Introspection", 95/115 cm., acrylic on canvas, 2014

"Contemporary syntheses: The Body in balkan art"...

Catalog for "Contemporary syntheses: The Body in balkan art"...

"The portraits of Bogdan Aleksandrov reveal a permanent tendency for self‑definition — regardless of the identity of the subject. His works are distinguished by the acuity of the analysis, and by a finesse of the psychological investigation which goes beyond the first, visible layer of observation. By taking his study deeper into the profound characteristics of the character he analyses, the painter pays less attention to the anatomical details, as he is more interested in the condition of the inner dimensions of the human spirit. In this light, the portrait appears to be an opening towards the inner universe. Once the obstacle of concreteness is left behind, the metaphysical gesture takes us into a space of melancholy, visually translated in pastel color, free of strong accents — which would disturb the feeling of meditative peace the artist strives to envision. "

 "Auto Interrogation", Acrylic on Canvas, 143/220 cm, 2012

http://www.aftigallery.com/wp-content/uploads/Catalogs/Sinteze_contemporane_corpul_in_arta_balcanica.pdf

As an Artist

                                      Bogdan Aleksandrov,"Process" studio,

                                                                                   June, 2008

“As an artist”

It is difficult to define what is “good”art or “bad” art as well as what is the meaning of culture to our societies, for myself, I do not try to define these things; I leave this for the critics and art historians to debate; rather, I focus on embracing my own motivating drive with as much sincerity and force of conviction as is possible. With no judgments for other artists and the beliefs they espouse, I find my drive as an artist in my ability to translate those issues and concerns of society which surround us today into aesthetically synthesized intuitions, sometimes even surprising myself in the new understandings they seem to offer up. As an artist, I do not offer the intention of “good” or “bad” art, I offer conviction, sincerity, and the faith that the work I create will somehow have resonance in an individual spectator in such a way that he or she will feel the same surprise and find the same new understanding which I find in the creation of the work.

"Rules for Society", Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

"Rule 10", Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

"Am I making myself clear?"

Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Now and Then

                                                      

Societies are dominated by events (resulting from ideas), and subsequent changes (creating new ideas). The categorization and structuring of events into cycles and periods by researchers contributes to an understanding of them today and allows for a possible prognosis of the future.

I was born in 1960.

In the country where I was born this same period was referred to as the beginning of  socialism victorious; simultaneously, one of my first conscious memories is from the end of the time allotted by American sociologists for the baby boom generation. It is captured on a colored black and white photograph. At the time it was taken it was common to enlarge and hand color family photos. The picture is from a local religious celebration, and the people in it do not yet know the names of the periods of history which will in time be used to categorize and place this frozen moment into a particular social and political frame of a faded past ... Due to the super-imposed coloring, the image carries an optimistic message to an uncertain future and a subconscious aspiration to compensate for the limits of the equipment. The unauthentic color takes away from the realism of the place and time - it can be mistaken for any other place, perhaps  no place or be re-translated in time....

My curiosity as an artist is attracted to the paradoxes triggered when memory intersects image and the possible incongruities between the two arising naturally from the interval of time between the recorded event and the memory.

A natural evolution of society and political reality has occurred, the world has changed. Each succeeding generation has developed its own notions and concepts and has constantly re-interrupted past cycles of history ,“updating” them or “translating” them into forms which make sense to the current context.

The normative ideology of socialism collapsed into history, and a wider world with alternative ideas has become more real, more so with the advent of technology that allows great distances to become insignificant both physically and mentally.

Having had the experience, and equipped with technical devices to assist me, I add elements, manipulate time, space, and truth to create a cycle of paintings with the purpose to find a possible metaphysical response to the coloured black/white photograph and the enigma of a beginning bereft of an end.

Each work is a diptych: the original image, and in one of the parts the event is transferred to a possible today and interpreted with irony which the replacement of the meaning allows me.

                                                                               

                                                                             

Събития (следствия на идеи) и последващи от тях промени (създаващи нови идеи) са в основата на развитието и трансформирането на обществата. Систематизирането и структурирането им в цикли и периоди от анализатори и изследователи способства за разбирането им днес и отключва възможни бъдещи прогнози.

Рождената ми дата е през високосната 1960-та година.

В страната, където съм се родил, са определили този период като "начало на етапа на победилия социализъм"; а по същото това време един от първите ми съзнателни спомени е свързан с края на ерата отредена от американските социолози на Бейби бум генерацията. Споменът е уловен от оцветена черно-бяла фотография. В онези дни е имало практика да се поръчват уголемени, ръчно оцветени семейни снимки. Поводът е местен църковен празник, а персонажите на нея все още не знаят как ще бъдат назовани историческите периоди, които впоследствие ще категоризират и ситуират замръзналия във времето момент в конкретна социална и политическа рамка на избледняло минало ... Заради допълнително нанесеният цвят изображението носи оптимистично послание към несигурно бъдеще и стремеж за компенсиране на ограниченията на техническите средства. Неавтентичният цвят отнема от реалността на мястото и времето - то може да бъде припознато във всяко друго място, вероятно в немясто, или просто пренесено във времето ....

Любопитсвото ми на артист е привлечено от отключените парадокси при срещата на спомен с изображение и възможните аберации естествено породени от времевия интервал  разделящ запазения спомен и събитието.Настъпила е естествена промяна в социалната и политическа реалност, светът е различен. Всяко поредно поколение е добавяло своите схващания и представи в непрестанно пресъздаване на минали цикли на историята, "актуализирайки"  или превеждайки ги във форми имащи смисъл в съвременния им контекст.

Нормативната идеология на социализма е потънала в историята, а обозримостта на един свят на алтернативни идеи става все по-реална и все по-възможна посредством новите технологии, за да може далечните пространства да станат незначими физически и смислово понятни.С актуалния си опит и екипиран с технически устройства, аз добавям елементи, с които манипулирам времето, пространството и истината, и създавам цикъл живописни творби с цел търсене на възможния метафизичен отговор на оцветеното черно-бяло и на мистерията на несвързаното начало с края.

Всяка от творбите е диптих: оригиналното изображение, като в една от неговите части събитието е пренесено в едно възможно днес и интерпретирано с иронията, която подмяната на смислите ми позволява.

Details are everything...

These are a few close up views of the latest portrait,  from the close up you can actually get some idea of what this technique is really like...

At Work

Last Day of Work on this Project...

A Few Words...

Unit 4, Portraits in Motion, 108-230cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2013

A few words...

Bogdan Aleksandrov is one of the best known Bulgarian born artists active since 1990. He is a prolific artist known for his large format acrylic works which target the deeper complexities of the social and psychological experiences of modern life. His mode of working is concise, often beginning with the choice of a unifying theme or concept around which an entire painting cycle will occur. It is normal in his working practice that such a theme will consume his work for an entire year or in some cases several, in this way it has become natural to divide his work into periods based on conceptual development. If it is correct to say that Aleksandrov’s work can be divided into periods based on unifying concepts, it is equally correct to speak of the importance of the aesthetic in his work. In his work he demonstrates the belief that the best painting is one which operates on many levels simultaneously, if it begins with an idea that satisfies the intellect, it continues with an aesthetic that pleases the eye. There is a deep relationship between concept and aesthetic in his paintings, it is natural then that as his ideas have evolved in periods so has his aesthetic expression. His earliest works can be described as “Lyrical Expressionism” characterized by the sense of the metaphysical grounded to reality with his very plastic handling of the paint with the use of a broad brush; his most recent works by contrast utilize a technique he refers to as “visual noise” which virtually defies technical explanation, though they may best be described as taking the material physicality of our world and lifting it to some higher level of metaphysical reality. He has won numerous national prizes for contemporary art in his home country, exhibited internationally, participated in international festivals for video art and has had his work enter in many important private and public collections.

Gordon Carter, February 2014

Unit 5, Portraits in Motion, 108-230cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2013