"Everything that is happening in our political life now, with this constant going to the polls, is like beating a dead horse. We are like those squirrels who run constantly inside the wheel, so that they can use up some excess energy. People's energy and money are wasted in the same way." This is the diagnosis of a contemporary artist, whose main task is to show society its flaws as if through a magnifying glass.

Cartoonist Ivaylo Tsvetkov chose an emblematic date of Bulgaria’s recent history - November 10, in order to present his new exhibition called "Vision Screening". It presents portrait caricatures of politicians, businessmen, athletes. What they all have in common is that they are all related to some event. And the events in Bulgarian political life seem to repeat themselves.

"Although we have held five elections for just a year and a half the result is the same in the end. Now we see everyone's fear of taking political responsibility, everyone pulls away from the others and refuses to form a coalition, and so we go from one election to another," the artist says. His style is well- recognizable with the colorful and enhanced details of his characters.

Most of the cartoons were not created specifically for the present exhibition, but are emblematic of the artist’s work for the past 23 years. Iconic personalities from the past and present stand out. People like the great comedian Charlie Chaplin, the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and many others can be seen.

"But the world is a very colorful place and not everything is politics. There are many talented people who deserve and are happy when they are immortalized in a cartoon,” Ivaylo Tsvetkov says:

"I draw for a newspaper and creativity is my daily life. Political caricatures are an indispensable part of working for the newspaper. In the afternoon I draw for myself and do more artistic work. Sometimes you get fed up with politics. For a year or two, quite a few interesting people passed through the parliament and the government. They were colorful in the humorous sense of the word and it was more interesting for us to draw them. Politicians are people who want to be significant, important; however many of them are quite mediocre but ambitious people, which is a particularly dangerous combination.”

Everyone who is in the sphere of public attention is subject to interpretation by the cartoonist, Ivaylo Tsvetkov says. "People like to make fun of the faces they see on the screen every day, that's why cartoon exhibitions are successful," says the artist, who has won more than 130 awards for his work.

Ivaylo Tsvetkov's exhibition can be seen in the gallery on Shipka Street in Sofia from November 6 to 29^th.

English: Al. Markov