One of Bulgaria’s most celebrated sculptors Pavel Koychev launched another project at Rayko Alexiev art gallery in Sofia. It was named Oh, Happy Days, Ohhh!

“You probably know that Happy Days is the name of a play in two acts by Samuel Beckett. Years ago Bulgarian actress Tatyana Lolova took part at that play in the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Sofia. Then, my wife and I decided that when something positive happens to us we should always say Happy Days. I personally came up with the exclamation Ohhh at the end of my project’s name. This is a sign that even the happiest moments end sooner or later.”

The echo of happiness in Pavel Koychev’s project was reproduced in an interesting manner through going back to old memories with the help of paintings of his children and grandchildren, which are hanging from the gallery’s ceiling. Thus, Pavel Koychev’s family members become co-authors of his exhibition. Pavel says with a smile on his face that he did not ask an official permission from them to use their paintings, yet he hopes he would not be criticized for his decision, because they are one family,

“I display child paintings and eight sculptures at the exhibition. There are six figures of small children- of my two daughters and my four grandchildren. They fly in space holding black and white photos. I did not place any photos nearby the two big recumbent figures of a man and a woman, so that all mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers can associate themselves with those sculptures. The child paintings are very important to me, because they represent the absolute purity in art. I must note that the drawings of all children of pre-school age are great. Even if I place paintings of other children aged between 3 and 4, my exhibition would still look wonderful.”

Oh Happy Days exhibition will last until the end of November. Pavel Koychev knows exactly who would like to see his exposition:

“My exhibition is directed to all people. I want to remind them about their happy moments and days, because they all had such moments. I dedicate my exhibition to all parents, children and grandchildren”

Pavel Koychev does not keep track of the number of his exhibitions. He held approximately 24-25 exhibitions since 1989. However, his exhibitions had different topics. In 2002 Pavel Koychev and his colleagues Gredi Assa and Huben Cherkelov represented Bulgaria at the International Art Exhibition in Venice- La Bienalle di Venezia. In 2008 Pavel Koychev launched Gradezha eco-house in the village of Osikovica. In the summer of 2016 Pavel Koychev and Miroslav Mihaylov launched the open-air gallery Originalite (The Originals) on the same place. Mr Koychev displayed amidst the trees some of his latest pieces named Phenomena and Temptations. Six months later he sent another artistic challenge through his Happy Days exhibition. How Pavel Koychev’s artistic fairytale will continue?

“I do not like talking about my projects in advance. I have several ideas on my mind, but I have not started working on them, because I like doing things one at a time and to concentrate on my current project only. It will be a bad idea to slather my energy in different projects. ”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photo: library