An exhibition of sculptures and drawings, on at Nuance gallery in Sofia until 13 February, presents prominent Bulgarian sculptor Prof. Boris Gondov and his work. The exposition features some truly powerful works, dealing with topics art has been grappling with since the dawn of civilization. One such topic is human existence, as seen in the different stages in the life of Jesus Christ, Genesis, Golgotha, Resurrection.

“Everything that surrounds us is human life, from the world’s creation down to our day,” says in an interview for Radio Bulgaria Boris Gondov. “These are problems the human race shall continue to face in times to come. There are so many things I find interesting, I don’t think art should shed its social role. That is one of the aspects of art and I have been endeavouring to show up these problems in my own way, problems the man in the street faces all the time. I am no stranger to these questions, they give room for conveying an artistic message and endow artists and sculptors with better means of expression. This is a topic that is immortal. Public life is not something one can be indifferent to, it lives inside us all, the problems it entails are the problems we bear the burden of. I firmly believe an artist has to be committed to them. This is my kind of sculpture, sculpture that is emotional and social.”

Prof. Gondov’s sculptures carry a powerful emotional charge. Suffering or an angel soaring up into the sky can leave no one indifferent. In his work called “The Seventh Day” Boris Gondov depicts renowned Bulgarian painter Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master, an artist whose work is an embodiment of the beauty and fertility of the land, of the eternal human values.

The other aspect of the exhibition is a topic no less eternal – the beauty of the female body. In recent years Prof. Gondov has formed a preference for wood – a material that is more readily available. But it also offers a more intimate approach to the topic at hand. “Wood is magnificent as long as one appreciates its merits,” the sculptor says.

Boris Gondov is the author of major projects:

“We are talking about big public contracts that take an immense amount of knowledge, ambition and drive. For example the Tsar Samuil monument and the Samuil fortress composition in Petrich, perhaps the biggest project I have ever undertaken.”

The sculptor has created monuments to other prominent Bulgarians like Tsar Boris I in Pliska, Patriarch Euthymius in Veliko Turnovo, to builder and architect Kolyo Ficheto in Dryanovo, Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master in Kyustendil. “It was a fascinating thing depicting these people, taking them and transforming them into these grand monuments,” says Prof. Gondov.

Works by Boris Gondov are part of the collections of the National Art Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery and other galleries across the country, as well as of the collection of the Art Dialogue foundation in Paris, the prestigious collection of businessman Hugo Voeten in Belgium. A monumental composition of his called “Birds” can be seen in the Nagasaki Peace Park in Japan.

English version: Milena Daynova