The exlibris competition is a guest at the "Ilia Petrov" Art School in Sofia
From April 9, 2024, the exhibition with the selected works of the fifth International Exlibris Competition Varna will visit the "Ilia Petrov" National School of Fine Arts in Sofia. "Debut" Gallery of the capital school has been a hospitable host of the competition since its first edition. The journey of the competition exhibition is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund through the "Distribution" program.
The artistic director of the competition in all its five previous editions is the famous Bulgarian graphic artist Julian Jordanov. The chairman of the jury is the beloved Bulgarian artist and professor at the "Graphics" department of the National Academy of Arts, Assoc. Prof. Dimo Kolibarov. The students and teachers of the "Ilia Petrov" art school will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of small graphics through the representative exhibition, which includes over 160 works of 135 artists from 30 countries, representing a rich illustration of the existing classical graphic techniques.
And in the current edition of the competition, some of the best names in the field of small graphics and bookplates in the world are participating. In addition to graphics by the winner of the fifth edition, the Bulgarian artist Petar Lazarov, the audience will see the latest from the winners of the previous editions of the competition – Ivan Rusachek (Belarus), Veselin Damyanov-Ves (Bulgaria) and Oleg Denisenko (Ukraine). The winners of various awards from the Varna competition - Konstantin Kalinovich (Ukraine), Shigeki Tomura (Japan), Martin Bayens (Belgium), Maurizio Schwartzman (Argentina), Lembit Lomus (Estonia), Anna Troyanovska (Poland), as well as the magnificent Bulgarian artists Hristo Naydenov, Hristo Kerin, Desislav Gechev, Maya Cholakova, Snezhina Biserova, Denitsa Ivanova - Alexandrova, Kaloyan Iliev - Kokimoto and others. This year, two of the most awarded contemporary artists in the field of bookplates sent their works to Varna - Karol Felix from Slovakia, who was awarded the third prize, and Vladimir Zuev from Russia, who received the second prize.
An ex-libris is a miniature graphic, and the name comes from the Latin expression "ex libris", meaning "from the books of..." or "from the library of...". Bookplates are an engraved or printed mark printed on the inside of the book cover and serving to clearly indicate its owner. Nowadays, the bookplate has changed its utilitarian purpose and is now more of a work of art than a graphic mark printed on books.
International Exlibris Competition Varna is a biennial held in the maritime capital since 2014 and has five editions. Until 2021, the Largo Gallery is the organizer, and from 2022 this role will be taken over by the Jordan Petkov Art Foundation. From its first edition until now, the competition has been implemented with the financial support of the Municipality of Varna through the Culture Fund. The traveling exhibitions of the competition in 2022 and 2024 are carried out with the financial support of the National Culture Fund.
Nelly Valcheva, Executive Director
International Exlibris Competition Varna
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