Past Exhibition

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Hristo Before Christo. 80 Years Since the Birth of Hristo Yavacheff - Christo

Not long ago we had the chance to applaud the first representative exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Bulgaria, organized in the halls of the Sofia Art Gallery. Our impressions were generalized in the best way by a noted art collector as he said: We lived to see it! Indeed, we have great respect for the two world-famous artists and we admire the fact that Christo has taken up an attitude towards the arrangement of the exposition in Sofia.

We did not suppose that Loran Art Gallery would also receive the opportunity to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Christo Yavacheff.

We have the pleasure of presenting to the public in Sofia a small collection of student works created by the young Christo in the mid 1950’s. We show 25 pencil and charcoal drawings and 8 oil artworks. Curiously, Loran Art Gallery is located at 16 Oborishte Street, quite near to the place where Christo lives while he studies at the National Academy of Art – the home of General Dimiter Katsarov at 12 Veliko Tarnovo Street.

As Christo himself says in an interview, when he entered the Academy he lived in the home of his parents’ friendsZarcho and Rayna. In this period he shares a same room with their little son Georgi, who is a high-school student then. Christo is already so observant and he is constantly drawing everything and everyone around. His hosts are often caught in various poses, even in their sleep. These sketches are performed with the artist’s typical manner but they are also fulfilled with warmth and intimacy.

We decided not to restore the artworks. The project Христо before Christo that we have dreamed of for almost two years aims at presenting the works in their authentic appearance so that the viewer could get closer to the purity of line. Moreover, we present to the public the whole collection; we did not select the artworks according to their completeness. All the works together could be seen as a priceless collection which has not only its undoubted aesthetic value but it is also of cultural and historic importance. It is an evidence of the époque, the persons and the sometimes touching relations between people.

The exhibition shows us the first steps of this great artist who made his way to the world art scene. Now we are proud to present a collection of artworks by Christo which were created here, in Bulgaria. We would like to dedicate this exhibition to his fellow both in life and in art, the unforgettable Jeanne-Claude. We are glad that Christo and their team keep working hard for realizing their phenomenon projects.