If we picture the student as a piece of clay in the hands of a talented teacher, is the perfect work of art always guaranteed at the end? We might want to seek the answer of this question in four exhibitions, where famous artists and sculptors stand by their students.

Teachers & Students in Art is a project of the Vapreki Foundation, unifying Prof. Emil Popov, Prof. Vihroni Popnedelev, Prof. Andrey Daniel and Prof. Nikolay Maistorov with their distinguished students from the Art Academy in Sofia. Both tutors and students will display their works in four consecutive exhibitions in Sofia, Varna and Kyustendil and the parallel discussions will tackle different topics, related to art, such as what exactly a teacher is trying to make out of that clay in his or her hands.

“We work with specific matter, as we are talking about art, but also about ethics here,” artist Prof. Andrey Daniel says. “The academy is a place where people with certain level of art literacy should come – they should be brave enough to sign their artistic work. So, my goal is to get that real human touch with my students, to feel their natural desires and intentions in the sphere of art and to help them express it all artistically. Unlike other branches of knowledge we do not set standards – education in our sphere is purely individual and its sense is to synthesize individualities. The interesting thing with us is the diversity in the artists’ work.”

According to Prof. Daniel ethics in art and life can be found in the Ten Commandments and that is why each artist should defend human principles honestly and bravely. Ethics is the main law which makes us human beings, different from the jungle fight, he goes on to say.

“Ethics means to realize the artist’s responsibility, as he is an important figure of public life, no matter if he is a painter, an illustrator or a designer,” says in his turn art expert Prof. Chavdar Popov. “One of his tasks is to oppose kitsch and mass culture that are poured all over us by TV shows and tabloids. The role of the artist is to contribute to the creation of good taste and aesthetic attitude not only to art, but to all spheres of everyday life. This is where artists stand in this collision around us.”

Does this discussion however lead the young generation of artists into one direction?

“This matter is complicated,” Prof. Daniel answers. “You can’t discuss common subjects in the presence of this anxiety around, sometimes getting deeper into despondency – we all know that things are not going well into our sphere. The level of interest received by visual arts in Bulgaria has never been high, compared to the respect shown to opera singers, writers, poets etc. Still, these young people show heroic efforts in their choice to become artists, despite the negligence of the public. Perhaps this is so because they realize that the method of visual arts gives them a chance to research this world and - why not – to change it…”

The first of the 4 exhibitions was opened on February 22^nd at the Vladimir Dimitrov – the Master Gallery in the town of Kyustendil, where sculptors Emil Popov and his students presented their works. Next come the Art Alley Gallery in Sofia and painter Vihroni Popnedelev due on March 1st, followed by Prof. Andrey Daniel on April 17^th at Varna’s City Art Gallery. The last one is to open on May 10^th and it will present painter Nikolay Maistorov at the Quadrant 500 Gallery.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev