ICA-Sofia Gallery
34, Vasil Levski Blvd Sofia, Bulgaria, CO 1504

Mitch Brezounek

How to Become the Best Artist in the World

Jan 15, 2021 Feb 26, 2021
Curator(s): Pravdoliub Ivanov and Krassimir Terziev
How to Become the Best Artist in the World

In 2020, Mitch Brezounek made his film "How to Become the Best Artist in the World". The film is a feature film, not only because of the fictional plot and the incarnations of the characters, but also because of the play with the formats of modern marketing, in which religious or financial gurus offer miraculous solutions to the complexity of the contemporary world. In the film, the main character - the master of painting Doug promises to transform any viewer into the best artist in the world in just ten lessons. The ten lessons concern important choices in the art world: the medium, the idea, the themes, the colors, the dress code, the risk, the market, the Internet, and the woman. All these important choices are visually staged with a large number of weird objects, some of which play the role of works of art, while others are just inventory. These objects have a dual identity. On the one hand, they are images evoked by the artist's imagination for screen life. On the other - according to their materiality and closeness to the original oeuvre of the author, we can safely consider them as pieces of art in-themselves. This play of reflections, doubles and mirages is the subject of the exhibition, which, in а deceivingly easy-going way between ridicule and absurdity, actually asks very painful questions about the system of art in the global market of affect and fierce competition for visibility. A system, in itself, saturated with paradoxes, reflections and doubles. A system in which criticism, rebellion and radical gestures coexist (and sometimes coincide) with market tricks, schemes, and marketing phantasmagorias.

In the course of the exhibition we will present a new limited edition of Mitch Brezunek's film "How to Become the Best Artist in the World" in the surprising (well-forgotten) format of a VHS video cassette in an originally designed box and artist's booklet.


Mitch Brezounek (b. France, 1989) is based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He graduated Plastic Arts in Beaux Art Academy of Lorient, France. In his work he uses various media such as ceramic, drawing, painting, video installation, animation. He was a member of the art collective Ouest Fisting from Lorient (2013 - 2017). The collective is part of the underground graphic culture with fanzine, silkscreen print, DYE, video and other..

In 2017 Æther Sofia presented his solo show Incubus, curator Voin de Voin. In 2018 Gallery L’Union presented his solo show Venus Ritual in Plovdiv. He was part of the group show Shock und Schrecken in Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, curated by Stefka Tsaneva. In 2019 he was part of: Art Start, Credo Bonum Gallery, curated by Vessela Nohzarova and Stefka Tsaneva; The Goods of Time, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Sofia, curated by Anastasya Skvortsova; Life in Plastic, Artnews Cafe, Plovdiv, curated by Sariev Gallery; Background Young Artist, Danchovata House, Plovdiv, curated by Sariev Gallery; Sofia Art Week, Underground Gallery, Sofia, curated by Voin de Voin. In 2020 as part of Sofia Art Week in Æther Sofia, Mitch Brezounek presented for the first time his film How to Become the Best Artist in the World.

Part of the 2021 annual international program of ICA-Sofia entitled "Superpositions*". The programme is guided by the principle that interdisciplinarity is a major vector in contemporary art practice. The series of exhibitions examine the connections between art and fields such as: politics / poetics; science and technology; popular culture; gender and social movements; ecology and migration. The discursive couples are reflected in the structure of each exhibition - a dialogue between two authors - one from Bulgaria and one guest.


*Superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum physics, according to which every elementary particle exists in all its theoretically possible positions simultaneously; but when measured or observed, it gives a result corresponding to only one possible configuration.


The annual programme "Superpositions" is supported by the National Fund Culture / Annual Programme for Support of Professional Organisations in the Field of Arts

Media
interview with Mitch Brezounek, 27:25 min courtesy the artist and ICA-Sofia; interviewer: Krassimir Terziev

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