The 18+ exhibition presents works by authors from the XXL group, created in 1994. Alongside the founders—Svilen Stefanov, Gennady Gatev, Huben Cherkelov, Georgi Tushev, Kosyo Minchev, Ivan Kyuranov, RASSIM®, and Petko Durmana—it also includes artists who have participated in the group’s activities over the years: Rosen Toshev, Dimitar Yaranov, Georgi Ruzhev, Boris Serginov, and Krasimir Dobrev. The exhibition presents works with pointed social content that are intensely provocative. Art is among the most powerful vehicles for social response. In recent years, we have been living through epidemics, military conflicts, natural disasters, and an accelerating devaluation of human values at every level. The authors of the XXL group cannot remain indifferent to what is happening; their response to reality takes the form of provocative and scandalous works. They have always been bold, extravagant, and cosmopolitan—utterly unfazed by guild notions of propriety. Their works do not fear public opinion; on the contrary, they provoke and pose questions with brutal directness. Because the absence of a position in art can sometimes signal cowardice. The idea for this exhibition was born after Group XXL’s guest show at the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia, when a restrictive 18+ notice appeared at the entrance to the exhibition. Perhaps because, both ironically and in all seriousness, it raised questions of a social, moral, and even political nature. The 18+ restriction unlocks different meanings and poses questions whose answers are not unambiguous. Yet the hatred toward the Russian military aggressor expressed in this exhibition was candid, shocking, unexpected, and, to a large extent, politically inconvenient. Each of the artists has a successful artistic career. Some work abroad; others combine their practice with academic work; others pursue independent careers in Bulgaria. Their works can be found in prestigious museums and private collections. Even as students, they entered the public sphere radically and without ceremony. The group’s first manifesto, “Kick in the Back of Inertia”, was written and published at the beginning of 1995 in “Kultura”, and later—expanded—also appeared in “Literaturen Vestnik”. The name XXL is also associated with the metropolitan gallery that existed between 1996 and 2003 on Macedonia Square. The titles of some of the best-known exhibitions from the XXL circle include: “New Bulgarian Painting” (1996), “Kosyo, Huben, Tushev” (1997), “Dimensions of Violence” (1998), “Gangstart” (1998), “The Bulgarian Landscape as a Metaphor” (2001), and “New Radical Practices” (from 1997 to 2001). Gallery XXL was closed in 2003 by the regional governor of Sofia after an exhibition at the gallery titled “AntiSax (New Political Art)”. In 2017, the National Gallery presented the exhibition “XXL Group. Past and Present of a Countercultural Narrative”, examining the XXL phenomenon and its impact on the Bulgarian art context over recent decades. Text and curator: Suzana Nikolova
