Alfa Art Gallery is proud to present Moments in Matter: Vesselin Kourtev’s Recent Works. This collection encompasses three smaller bodies of work, all unique yet intimately unified by their impulse to seize fleeting moments in material form. With two groups of oils, the artist explores a more minimalist approach than he has in the past. He strives to reduce his overall mark making by maximizing his use of the palette knife. And, with fewer voices on the canvas, each resounds more confidently. His mixed media collages are more experimental in nature, and pay close attention to line, composition and representational imagery. All the while, Kourtev remains true to his roots by incorporating both narrative drawing and abstract expressionist painting techniques into the works.

Varying in theme and concentration, these oils and mixed media collages expand his body of work to areas previously unrevealed. This group appears especially organic with heavy references to traditionalist styles of the past. A formally taught artist himself, Kourtev is particularly inspired by the ideals of the Symbolist and the Arts and Crafts Movements of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Join us on Friday, April 13 to celebrate this exciting debut of these never before seen works.

Vesselin Kourtev is the Founder, Director and current Artist in Residence at the Alfa Art Gallery. Originally from Bulgaria, he is recognized internationally as an oil painter with a truly unique style. He uses traditional, narrative drawing techniques paired with abstract-expressionist painterly qualities. His works pay homage to artists like Arnold Bocklin and Walter Crane, and incorporate gesture and story telling. Vesselin currently lives and works in New Brunswick, NJ, where he continues to find new inspirations for his work.

About the Exhibition

The Alfa Art Gallery is proud to present “The Message,” a solo exhibition by Vesselin Kourtev. This series of 45 paintings take place in an abstract world, where each viewer gets lost, wanders and, eventually, comes back to reality with his interpretation of what lies beyond the present. The fictitious world of Kourtev’s paintings is visually divided into two, tangibly connecting what is seen by the eyes and the mind. His works also explore what lies beneath the surface. Kourtev imprints his canvases with powerful strokes that protrude, hopeful hues and vague figures, leaving the audience with the impression of the depth of the human experience and relationships. Kourtev’s message is relative and, therefore, a timeless memento, unglued to any one time period.

–Jewel Lim

(click here for more info about this event)

Oil Colors

Water Colors

Starting in the early 1990s, Vesselin Kourtev has exhibited his artwork worldwide. Now in April 2010, the Alfa Art Gallery in New Brunswick, New Jersey will present his newest exhibition in collaboration with the release of Virginia DeBerry’s newest book Uptown where the title of each painting correlates to a chapter in her novel. There is an overtone of alluring energy in the figures and their composition with the background, offering the viewer ghostly, yet harmonious, visions of an abstract world. His tones and hues, especially in his painting Full to the brim of future (Chapter 20), express a sense of liberation as birds cascade over a saturated green landscape presenting a celebration of hope. The product of this process of creating a relationship between language and image is to build the bridge between different art mediums and to create a layer of ideas, a central theme in Kourtev’s work.

About Vesselin Kourtev’s exhibition by Virginia DeBerry

New Year’s Celebration leads to a Cross-Cultural Collaboration when bestselling author Virginia DeBerry attended a New Year’s Eve dinner at New Brunswick, New Jersey’s Alfa Gallery, she anticipated only an entertaining evening with friends old and new, and a different way to begin a new decade. Instead, the event gave rise to the Uptown exhibit, pairing Uptown, the latest novel by DeBerry and her writing partner Donna Grant, with the paintings of noted Bulgarian artist Vesselin Kourtev.

“I visited the gallery and was shown several canvases of Vesselin’s new work,” says DeBerry. “One painting in particular struck me as representative of both the closeness and the struggle between cousins Avery and Dwight, the main characters in our book.” This realization led to a discussion about the relationships between different art forms which proved to be the catalyst for gallery co-owner Galina Kourtev to put together a show called Uptown. Each painting is named for a chapter in the book, and Vesselin drew inspiration from the story for one special work entitled “Uptown.”



Oil Colors

Water Colors

The Grand Opening Reception and Exhibition Opening will be held on Jan 30, 2008.

For more information, check out our website @ www.alfaart.org.