Media realism in Krasimir Terziev’s pictures

Desislava Tomova

A major subject that has gradually emerged in Krasimir Terziev’s art in recent years is cinema – as a process, vision, content. This subject has inspired the artist’s new project entitled Missing Scenes, which is on view in SIBANK Gallery until the end of this month. Mr Terziev has exhibited ten new pieces in various formats, all made in 2008. The medium is acrylic paints on canvas. The missing scenes have been extracted from famous films, the news, ordinary city stories. The artist has brought together the various remakes of the cult King Kong into a single scene. His canvases defy the standard perspective of a picture, creating a unique reportage feel.

Through the painting media, Mr Terziev wishes to add another layer to the vision of the television, cinema and computer screens. He transforms this media realism into pictures and exhibits them in the gallery. His message is social, concerned with the modes in which we perceive reality today and the mediators through which we communicate with it.

One painting bears a perplexing sign that may be taken for a provocation: ‘This image has been removed for security reasons’. Explains the artist, ‘No, it’s not a provocation. I came upon this image in a web site, and its statement amazed me. What drew my curiosity was the magical operation that takes away the image, yet preserves its space, marking and underlining it with the very warning of its removal. And even if the removed image had not been particularly interesting on its own, this warning, aided by our stirred imagination, creates and focuses new interest in it.’ The title of the Missing Scenes series has been intentionally left ambiguous. After all, we are dealing with painted images, and such images always contain many more layers of intensified information. If the art is high-quality, its direct translation into words is seldom possible. Here, the missing scenes give birth to various interpretations. Significantly, the word ‘scenes’ suggests constructed sights; these are missing, because in each image, the viewer can recognize a seemingly familiar still, yet it never transfers directly something existing onto the canvas – there is always an element of imagination. Krasimir Terziev is one of the most famous contemporary Bulgarian artists. He works in the areas of videos, installations, and painting. Last year, he received a Gaudenz B. Ruf Award in the Advanced Artist category of this contest for new Bulgarian art.

This article was published on 11.06.2008 in "Sega" newspaper