IVAN ANDONOV, paintings 21.03.-03.04.2023

IVAN ANDONOV /1934-2011/

painting

21.03.-03.04.2023

This is Ivan Andonov’s seventh solo exhibition at Arte Gallery, three of which he personally arranged. These were lessons in aesthetics from a creator of high spirit and uncompromising demeanor, who knew perfectly well where true art begins and worked tirelessly in its highest registers.
His quick mind and beautiful speech complement and prove all this, his words are more than eloquent:
“The first thing I started doing in my childhood was drawing, and for a long time I did only that. Then came the theater, parallel to the cinema, which I used to go to see. A child falls in love with the opportunity to look at made-up worlds. By drawing, I create worlds!
Nothing gives me so much pleasure as drawing. I fall asleep and dream of painting. I wake up and think about paintings. It’s great! Like being able to commit to only one woman. Wonderful! I don’t know if there is such a great love.
I am defeated by simplicity. Hopelessly defeated. When simpletons come to power, they first destroy spirituality. The spirit shines, and the simpleton is irritated by that light. Man exists to develop his spirit. If there is God, he is a spirit!
When man does not touch art, then humanity also decreases. Things are connected – humanity, morality, art – it is a chain of spiritual values that we are losing day by day.
Thank God there are books, music, people have drawn and draw wonderful things and I can look at them and admire them. The pursuit of perfection is actually progress – the cause of all the world’s discoveries. There will be no achievements in the world if people do not strive for perfection.” (parts of Ivan Andonov’s interviews)
With love and excitement, we will arrange nearly 20 of the oil paintings of the painter Ivan Andonov, from large-format to small ones, from early landscapes to poetic abstract canvases (after the year 2000). Yes, Ivan is with us with his strong spiritual presence, with his great talent, with his unmistakable sense of color and composition. His bright creative spirit will fill the space of Arte Gallery, we will feel his thin smile, his original thinking and his love for the beautiful.