Bulgarian artist Alzek Misheff Made a Donation to the Art Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
A working meeting took place in Milan in early November between the director of the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Snezhana Yoveva, Ilian Lolugov, the head of the Cultural Policy Department, and the Bulgarian artist Alzek Misheff, who lives and works in Italy for more than fifty years and has become a true legend in contemporary art in Italy.
Ideas for further promotion of the current retrospective exhibition "ALZEK MISHEFF - Aqui - Milan - Sofia" in Square 500 - Palace through the communication channels of diplomacy were discussed, and at the initiative and assistance of the State Institute for Culture in early October a special video was made to popularize the artist and his remarkable exhibition in our country.
The great "return" of the artist to his homeland was organized on the occasion of his 80th birthday. More than 140 works are exhibited in 13 halls in the Palace. The project is implemented by the National Gallery, with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia and in cooperation with the Home Art Foundation. Curators are Ivo Milev and Boryana Valchanova.
Alzek Misheff was born in 1940 in Dupnitsa. He is the heir of an old painting family - his great-grandfather Ivan Zografski is one of the artists who painted and restored the Rila Monastery in the XIX century. He graduated in painting from the National Academy of Arts in 1966. He left the country in the early 1970s and built a remarkable international career in Italy. Because of the famous performance "Swimming the Atlantic Ocean" (1979-1982), his biography is adorned with the rumor that he escaped from the Soviet regime by swimming and takes shape in the myth of the heroic artist who undertook the impossible in the name of creative freedom. Self-ironic, courageous, looking for challenges, back in 1976 in the book "Europe - America - the various avant-garde" by Achilles Bonito Oliva, presenting the most influential 30 European and 30 American artists, of the Bulgarian artists were included namely Alzek Misheff and Christo.
The director of the State Institute for Culture Snezhana Yoveva and Azek Misheff talked about the presentation of the future film about the artist among interested audiences, as well as opportunities for the production to be included in film projects and programs of the Institute and the diplomatic missions of Bulgaria abroad. The film is expected to be released in 2022.
At the end of the exciting meeting, Alzek Misheff donated his painting for the enrichment of the Art Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a trilingual luxury catalog, which presents his entire work. On her part, the director of the State Institute for Culture donated to Alzek Misheff the representative bilingual catalog "Diplomacy and Art", which greatly excited him, as well as respected him, turning the pages and seeing masterpieces of works of Bulgarian classics.
The retrospective exhibition of Alcek Misheff in Sofia in Square 500-Palace can be viewed until November 21 in compliance with all current anti-epidemic measures.