One of the most celebrated contemporary Bulgarian artists Emil Stoychev launched a large-scale exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Sofia. The exhibition was made on occasion of the 80th birthday of the painter. Emil Stoychev is born to a family of icon painters. He became an honorary Doctor of the National Art Gallery in 2010. Stoychev has won a series of prestigious awards. He settled in France after the transition from socialism to democracy. In 1993 the Mayor of Paris organized a large-scale exhibition with his works of art at the Bagatelle Palace. He has made dozens of exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. The current exhibition consists of 118 paintings. It is a great pleasure to display works of such a remarkable artist, art critic Diana Draganova-Shtir told Radio Bulgaria and added:

“The current exhibition is a retrospection of Emil Stoychev's creative work. It contains some of his earliest paintings made in the 1950's and the 1960's, as well as of some of his latest works. The last paining was completed in the beginning of 2015. The series entitled Monsters Born in Darkness is in the focus of the present exhibition. That is why we launched a special exhibition hall with the most popular paintings from these series.”

Why he named his collection Monsters Born in Darkness?

“I asked Emil the same question: Why darkness gives birth to monsters?” Diana Draganova-Shtir explains. “This is so, because we lack spirituality in recent years. The renowned Bulgarian artist tried to accentuate on this trend and I think these series are the most influential and powerful part of the whole exhibition.”

What message does Emil Stoychev send to people through his paintings?

“His paintings are variegated. The citizens who come to see the exhibition will learn about his artistic style over the years - in the 1950's, the 1960's, in the 1980's and at present. Emil is an artist who likes to work with metaphors. Every painting is a different universe and a retrospection of his emotions from the time he creates art. Every painting has its own atmosphere.”

What is Stoychev’s role in Bulgaria's and foreign landscape-painting?

“First I accentuated on his interesting biography. Emil Stoychev has been living in Paris and Sofia since the beginning of the 1990's. He spent most of his time in the French capital, which inevitably influenced his art and philosophy. I would say he is a world-class artist. ”

Are his works influenced by his talent, or his character?

“Every art is mainly product of the talent of the artist. However, if a given artist does not have the character to defend his view, he would not be able to reveal his potential. A strong character means to show consistency at work. It was a great pleasure to work with Emil Stoychev. He is an artist with a wonderful style and behavior who lifted the bar very high in his field.”

Emil Stoyehcv's exhibition is accompanied with Ganiela Angelova's documentary entitled Edna Stoychevska Myarka (A Stoychev unit of measure). Thus, visitors can learn more details about his career development. “I am a man who is never satisfied with the results of my job, although I render a good account of what I do at work”, celebrated Bulgarian painter Stoychev says. “I am quite aggressive towards myself. I am a masochist, because sometimes I make a certain decision and start working on a given paining driven by a certain idea and later I am ready to cross everything out and start from the very beginning, in order to feel the pleasure of creating the whole mystery of art again”, Emil Stoychev says in the documentary.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov