Sept 6, 2019- A Serrated Disposition: Vesselin Kourtev—Solo Exhibition Opening @ Alfa Art Gallery
Alfa Art Gallery invites you to “Serrated Disposition: Vesselin Kourtev’s Solo Exhibition” featuring representative works from the artist’s various cycles of exploration in oil, watercolor, drawing, and mixed media.
Exhibition Opening Friday, September 6 @ 6:30pm
Exhibition Duration September 3, 2019 – October 26, 2019
Exhibiting Artist Vesselin Kourtev
About this Exhibition
This exhibition will feature works created by the globally recognized artist, and founder of Alfa Art Gallery, Vesselin Kourtev. The two new cycles on display, titled Personal Dissections in watercolor and Interpersonal Revelations in oil paint, represent yet another chapter in the artist’s career, while incorporating motifs and symbols from his previous works.
About the Artist
Boasting a display of works in a variety of exhibitions all over the world, Vesselin Kourtev has been perfecting his art since 1987. In Bulgaria where he was born and raised, Vesselin earned a high school degree in Fine Art from the Fine Art School in Kazanlak as well as a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the University of Veliko, Turnovo. Applying the skills and knowledge he has gained throughout his training in Fine Arts, Vesselin has worked at the National School of Stage and Film Design in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Finally, through a compilation of his previous work and experiences, Vesselin founded the Alfa Art Gallery in 2007 where he currently works as Head Art Director and Resident Artist with his wife Galina Kourteva, as they go to great extents to ensure the success of the artists and interns associated with the gallery. Today, the Alfa Art Gallery is known as a cultural hub described by Home News Tribune writer Richard Khavkine as “transcending visual art’s boundaries” that features a variety of local and international artwork of a variety of mediums, offering a warm and welcoming atmosphere to its New Brunswick community.
Vesselin’s portfolio of work is an arsenal full of abstract and illusory pastels, often framing figural scenes. The juxtaposition of abstract landscapes with human figures ultimately coalesce to promote allegorical and playful images that assert notions of unity and the inner, more contemplative side of humans. The narrative of each image is presented through a well thought out composition bursting with color and mystification, his works described as a “formidable achievement,” by Maurice Taplinger of 1GALLERY&STUDIO.
With honorable mention in a variety of articles, websites and books, Vesselin continues to make a lasting impact on both his local and global community through his personal artwork as well as the innumerable hours and efforts he devotes to the Alfa Art Gallery. In April 2008, he donated one of his personal masterpieces to the local Saint Peter’s Hospital in honor of the care and attention he received from them. He has also collaborated with best-selling author Virginia DeBerry and her partner Donna Grant to depict a variety of scenes representative of the essence of their novel, once again highlighting and negotiating connections between various mediums of expression, in this case writing and visual arts. In 2009, Vesselin and Galina were recognized by the Home News Tribune for using The Alfa Art Gallery as a platform to raise awareness of environmental issues and promote positive change through art. Beyond just his local community, Vesselin is recognized worldwide as an individualized artist with a unique style that has created, and continues to create a lasting impact on everyone he touches with his art and contributions to the global community.
About the Work
Cycle 1 (oil paint) Interpersonal Revelations
Rendering both landscapes and figural scenes with brilliant colors and abstract forms, Vesselin tells a story through oil paint in the cycle Interpersonal Revelations. He creates a vivid and spiritual atmosphere through his use of light and color. The coordination of these elements is ultimately representative of fleeting emotions and moods that we experience in reaction to the environment around us, which are then manifested through the interaction of figures, recurrent symbols and landscapes present in each segment of the series.
Cycle 2 (Watercolor) Personal Dissections
Vesselin combines the detail and realism of his charcoal drawings with bold watercolor abstractions in perfect balance in the cycle Personal Dissections. The subject matter is complemented with thoughtful and deliberate splashes of color that add a sense of harmonious dynamism to each piece. The combination of both representational and abstract elements in each piece captures both the viewer’s eye and mind as they find each meaning. Both accessible and elusive, Personal Dissections is a journey for artist and audience alike.
