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...AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - Solo Exhibition 11/11
...AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Consulate General of Republic Bulgaria-
New York
121 E 62 Street
New York, NY 10065
Opening reception: 11/11/2010, 6 – 8 pm.
And the Pursuit of Happiness includes recent works by Bulgarian born artist Yana Dimitrova.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the American patriotic phrase “Life Liberty and
the Pursuit of Happiness”. Through the ironic play on words, the place and possible story of
the work is revealed. Suggesting the idea of the American dream, Yana's paintings intend to
question the validity and meaning of that statement, or where and what exactly is that
happiness?
The majority of the exhibited paintings are portraits of Bulgarians living in the US. In the
root of the imagery is a process involving performance, video/photo documentation. Yana' s
"heroes" were instructed to read a poem by Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov, titled "I am
Bulgarian" - one of the first works of literature which Bulgarian children have to learn. While
videotaping, Yana arranges a pose in the style of Bulgarian patriotic photography from the
late 1700. In result, based on the documentation Yana created the portraits in a heroic,
almost theatrical setting, similar to the imagery from the Bulgarian 18th century portraits.
Opposing the ideals stated in the poem, based on the time and place of the "performance"
this notion fractures concepts, meanings and personal beliefs, and also becomes
historically archived through painting.
Dealing with ideas of social transformations and concepts of nationalism, often through the
use of research or her personal biography, Yana’s focus is the idea of deceptive space.
Panoramic views of rural and urban terrains, architectural interiors, shopping malls
architecture, empty billboards and other monuments of American mass culture also take
place in the exhibition. Some are combined with text, phonetically typed Bulgarian words
with Latin letters, which Yana connects to recent media communication in which the use
of Slavic alphabet is slowly disappearing.
For more information: yana@yanadimitrova.com
Created with the support by chashama visual arts studio program.
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