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The history of this work will be empty if you do not see it yourself. It is located at 6 Triaditsa Street, in the center of Sofia, and is part of the tenth consecutive edition of Urban Creatures.
You might like it. Maybe you don’t like it. But it certainly won’t leave you indifferent.
The artist is Bozhidar Simeonov – Bozko. The ideologue of the project is Yasen Geshev, creator of the urban art platform Urban Creatures. The day before the premiere, while the artist was applying the final paintings, we stood with him in front of the Ministry of Energy, whose wall is the panel, and we talked about street art. It strikes me that all the passersby pick up their phone to take pictures of the panel.
He does not agree with the canon, Yasen Geshev notes. Saint George is always painted young and facing us. Here he is an adult and has a back. According to the canon, the dragon is at his feet. Here it is on top of him.
Saint George and the Dragon is the greatest battle in Christian iconography. A long battle. Saint George has been slaying the dragon for almost 2000 years. And to understand how long this great battle has lasted, perhaps we should see St. George as an old man.
The reactions are contradictory. The church liked the mural. The priests asked for only a small supplement, which the authors gladly accepted.
A passerby said that this was not St. George, but Putin’s back. Another said it smelled of communism. Third, of religious fundamentalism. Fourth, that we pretend to be Westerners and we told the authors to paint these things in London, not Sofia.
However, most people like work. And if someone is interested in my personal opinion, I think this is one of the most impressive examples of street art in Bulgaria and a real event in our cultural life. For decades to come, people will bring their children to show them this billboard. Some will click in disgust. Others will remain in awe for hours and search for meanings that have hitherto eluded them. Whether it is good will be debated for years. But no one will remain indifferent. The main objective of art, to excite, is fulfilled.
The wall at 6 Triaditsa Street has taken the team three years, of which the last 50 days of active work. According to the plan, the painting was supposed to be painted by the Polish artist Robert Proch, but he died just when he had to be in Sofia to make this wall. The panel is also a tribute to him.
Also this year, BOZKO suffered a serious shoulder injury, from which he has not been able to fully recover since March. And knowing the difficulties that Bulgaria and the world are going through at the moment, it was somehow quite logical and natural to paint the image of Saint George, let’s say from Urban Creatures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZsgd0oE5n8
The image hides another surprise. Augmented reality, created with the support of Bepart, an international urban art platform with which Urban Creatures works in partnership. There is augmented reality in two other works from the previous 2019. One work is by the Argentine artist Francisco Bosoletti and is located at Angel Kanchev 37 street, and the other is by BOZKO and is located at Paris 5 street.
The event is part of the Sofia Cultural Events Calendar. We thank the Municipality of Sofia and our many partners for the fact that once again we were able to work together despite all the difficulties. We also thank the residents of Triaditsa Street, these are the Ministry of Energy and all the residents of the street who welcomed us and supported us so that we could implement the project, writes Urban Creatures.
You can see a video of the mural and the process of its production HERE, HERE and HERE.
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