The Group XXL is Visiting the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia with the Support of the State Institute for Culture
The National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia (Multimedia Center "Mala Stanitsa") presents the group XXL, created in 1994, in Sofia. The opening of the exhibition will take place on December 15 at 6 p.m. After decades of mutual ignorance (or partial knowledge) of the current art processes of both countries, we see this exhibition as another step towards lasting cooperation in the field of culture.
In 1994, the founders of the group were Svilen Stefanov, Gennady Gatev, Huben Cherkelov, Ivan Kyuranov, Kosyo Minchev, Rasim, Georgi Tushev, Petko Durmana and Slavi Slavov. The first manifesto "Strike in the Back of Inertia" was written and published at the beginning of 1995 in "Kultura" magazine, and later with additions it also appeared in the pages of "Literaturen Vestnik". The name XXL is also associated with the gallery that existed between 1996 and 2003 in Sofia. The names of some of the most popular exhibitions from the XXL series are "New Bulgarian Fine Art" (1996), "Kosyo, Huben, Tushev" (1997), "Dimensions of Violence" (1998), "Gangstart" (1998), " The Bulgarian landscape as a metaphor" (2001) and "New radical practices" (from 1997 to 2001). Gallery XXL was closed in 2003 by the regional governor of Sofia after an exhibition in the gallery "Antisax (New Political Art)".
In the general image of Bulgarian art, this group is one of the first examples of independent artistic activity outside the existing institutional structures. Even as students, its members enter the public space radically and unceremoniously. Today, their work can be seen with a more objective view, cleared of the filter of emotions and the extravagant spirit of the 90s. The exhibition at the National Gallery in Skopje is not a reconstruction of the XXL phenomenon - it would be a large reconstruction of dozens of works, some of which no longer exist. And besides, they were only part of the overall radical behavior. This exhibition is more of a reminiscence and an attempt to understand later the change that this group caused in contemporary Bulgarian art.
This exhibition mainly highlights the group's current work; in addition to the founders, it also presents authors who have been involved in their activities over the years - Rosen Toshev, Dimitar Yaranov, Georgi Ruzhev, Boris Serginov, Krasimir Dobrev, David D'Agostino. A large number of authors have collaborated with the group over the years, and dozens have opened solo exhibitions in the XXL gallery space.
In the 1990s, the group became recognized for their work in installation, performance, video and action in urban space. Such, for example, was the scandalous painting of buildings in the entire city center with "Huben, Kosyo, Tushev" graffiti, which bordered on hooliganism. At the same time, the group consistently develops the contemporary possibilities of painting, proof of which is not only the conceptual curatorial exhibition "New Bulgarian Painting" (1996), but also the fact that almost the entire group worked and still works in the so-called classical environment. Even today they are expressed by all possible means, but without prior arrangement the emphasis always falls on painting. Painting, markedly multifaceted - from conceptually "serious" to more abstract or expressively irresponsible and parodic. The vision is everywhere complex, refracted through an intellectually treacherous semantic layer, peeking behind materials, techniques and gestures. XXL plays the cards of historically normed pictorial languages - with full awareness of their ironic new use.
As part of the Annual Program, the project is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the State Institute for Culture of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Cultural and Information Center of the Republic of Bulgaria in Skopje.