Ilko Alexandrov: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

F200 in low ISO, slow shutter

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:16:32 GMT

F200

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:28:25 GMT

Beneath the Thick Skin of the Day ..

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:53:30 GMT

.. a Gentle Heartbeat Can be Heard .. It's The Heart of the Twilight

Sunrise, Somewhere

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

When Snow Comes Later Tonight, Will You Then, Under Snowflakes in the Nightlight ..

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:53:30 GMT

Salim at Barrington's, May 2009 (Tri-X 400)

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:27:00 GMT

The 60s ..

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:52:59 GMT

How do you describe the feeling of last summer and the sea you never went to ? How about light, air, faces, everything Then which is so much real, and the Now is the dream you never wake up from ??

Well, i have this in my life and it's called the 60s, maybe the 1960 - 1979, and everything about then .. Some of the things about then that spring to mind - light, air, love, film, and music. The cars, the cameras, the girls in minis .. And its Europe, Paris, London, Rome, and its Serge and Jane, and its Floyd i guess and The Band and Led Z and Yes .. the list is too long .. And i was only born in 1965 .. go figure

I'll post some images here, which i feel best describe my feelings and my obsession with Then. Few of them might be from later, even from now, yet, they are added in here if they sent the familiar shivers of melancholia down my spine

I hope that some of you find something here about 'the way we were', recall The Life Then, and even shed a tear. A tear of joy that is ..

Joburg Art Fair 2009, One Way to Remember it ..

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:58:20 GMT

Lumiere D'Hiver, Sofia, 2009

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:21:29 GMT

A travelogue with a couple of uneventful and off the beaten track locations in Sofia. February 2009.

The winter and the snow have just returned after a (false) spring brake. Air, light, snow - turned out very much as desired in the rainy days of Jozi - before the trip.

Few walk-around images of winter light and biting cold - the winter so sentimentally and masochistically missed in the sun of Africa ..

Lumiere D'Hiver, 2008

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:05:47 GMT

Soulsa, 30 November 2008, Rashid Lanie Quartet

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:51:13 GMT

What a fine performance, following the (always) great food of Soulsa !

For the real McCoy, try their 'Remembrance' album, which is amongst the finest new additions to my already large jazz collection - coming across with its honesty, beautifully rendered melancholy for things gone as in 'The sun will rise' and 'Come with me', masterfully presented by Rashid and Ernie Watts.

A summer night in Melville

Johannesburg, circa 1978

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Karl Gietl, The Poet from Troyeville

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This text introduces you to one of the most significant South African artists, through a 'small' collection of 10 of his works, some of which lesser known or never exhibited. Here, i'll try to tell in a few words the light of the Art of Karl Gietl.

I find it very difficult to define what Real Art is. The type of art, which when encountered stays with you, stays in your life, in your thoughts and at times, can even influence decisions in life. The sense of joy of being able to discover it, “touch it” and let it touch you - while still breathing and around. This is the art of Karl Gietl, the poet of Jozi, who froze the magical hours and light of a city in his canvases and made Commissioner Str, a dream address to visit. I will never forget driving home from his house, one late afternoon, coming down Commissioner Str and seeing this thick red sunset on the horizon, behind the skyscrapers of downtown, just in the end of the street. Lo and behold, few months later i saw the same thing - this time on a canvas of Karl, and so much there.. Needless to say, i had the painting still wet in the boot of my car ..

Each work, even if completed in the mid 2000s, is so much oozing the 90s and i guess so much the 70s - 80s too. Each is a tale of love, a gentle bow to Life, to the light and texture of Jozi and its people. To the light when and where it’s absent or unwelcome. His love affair with Life got me so mesmerized from day one, that i almost refused to leave his house-studio, this same day, without a work (“Night in the City”), a work, which turned out to be the most honest and captivating night scape of a city on this planet i have seen to date .. The roots of local masters like Robert Hodgins and Norman Catherine can be found in his work - the former's highly expressive style and “news flash” subject matter, and the latter's shouting grotesque and magical absurd.. Yet, Gietl is uniquely himself, unmatched, untamed, and so profoundly lyrical in his reach .. A poet with a brush, an Artist so hugely underrated .. I haven’t stopped thinking till today, how can one use so much expressive detail, be so “brutally” realistic and yet, convey the spaces between so gently. Names such as Paul Delvaux and David Eustace come to mind, which only and not accidentally places Mr Gietl right up and there .. I think i am beginning to understand it all now : he missed it all, already, while he still had it - the light, the streets, the girls .. the morning after.. And he painted this loss.

The man like the artist himself .. How i miss our lunches in Troyeville hotel naturally turning into dinners, the little studio, and the bigger studio, the late nights with wine, the discussions, the chicken almost burnt on the braai, the driving through the middle of the city of crime, Karl visiting, the staying over, the coming back, a new work in my car going home with me ..

I look at my walls and I see his Jozi basked in light. The There, Then melancholia hits me like a truck, a dream that refuses to complete once again.

The Cradle of Humankind, World Heritage Site (R1)

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:37:00 GMT

Jan Garbarek Group & Manu Katche (LX2)

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:55:00 GMT

15 May, 2008, Hall 1, NDK, Sofia .. What a performance ! Manu Katche - the star of the show, followed closely by Jan. A revelation .. Unforgettable

The Light of Things Now

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:30:00 GMT

This is Johannesburg, or Jozi .. The crime capital of Earth .. A magical african city under ever promised and much questionable renaisance.

I miss it already, while still here ..

Missing Persons File, 2005 - 2008

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:29:00 GMT

Ilko Alexandrov, Selected Oil & Mixed Media Work, 2002 - 2006

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:37:00 GMT

Selected Portraits, 1991 - 2008

ilko.alexandrov@gmail.com (Ilko Alexandrov) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:54:00 GMT