“Art From the Center” Collection

The idea for the exhibition “Art From the Center” originated in 2013 and is connected with the 50-year anniversary of Hristo Tsokev Art Gallery and the 155-year anniversary of the town of Gabrovo.

The history of the town is closely linked with the roads passing through the Balkan Mountains and this is why we decided to present the contemporary town culture through a traveling exhibition. We extended participation invitations to 30 Gabrovian artists from different age groups, each one of them possessing their own character and manner and their own painting style. Each artist was given two canvases of the same size – 50/60. The size was not chosen arbitrarily – the gallery was celebrating its 50-year anniversary and the canvases that were to be exhibited were 60.

The idea that was crucial when it came to selecting the participants in the exhibition was that of continuity between different generations and styles. The participants include well-established artists with numerous national and international prizes to their names, teachers at private, secondary and higher education institutions, as well as young, bold and ambitious artists who stand for a new point of view in painting.

The name of the exhibition is also symbolic. The geographical centre of Bulgaria is located in the region of Gabrovo.

It is important to us that we have the opportunity to present through painting the town’s personality, and the culture and spirit of the Gabrovians which preserved themselves despite their long and fraught with challenges history.

So far the exhibition has been shown in Romania – in the towns of Targo Zhiu, Krayova and Kurtya de Arzhesh and in Bulgaria – in the art galleries in Dobrich, Lovech, Pleven, Kyustendil, Ruse, Sevlievo amd Gabrovo. In 2016 it was shown at the BCI (Bulgarian Cultural Institute) in Warsaw, Poland, where the exhibition and the gallery team enjoyed an especially warm welcome. In May 2016 the exhibition was shown at the BCI in Budapest, Hungary, followed by an appearance at the BCI in Prague, The Czech Republic in July.