4alga Punk
Lexi Fleurs and Mitch Brezounek 

September 3, 2021 - September 26, 2021

Curated by Valko Chоbanov

Opening: September 3, Friday, 19:00 h.
FLUCA – Austrian Cultural Pavilion
36 Otets Paisiy St, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 

4alga Punk will showcase the work of two of the most interesting visual artist in Bulgaria and abroad. One immigrant and one emigrant. A homogenic installation merging esthetic styles and meanings in a cacophony of symbolism. Lexi is the founder of LexiTrans a transport company specializing in exporting people and art from the Balkans to western Europe. During all her travels she never forgets to take her analog camera to capture the moment. Her photography often involves made-up character sort of alter egos either of her or the subjects of her work.

Mitch on the other hand reflects the outside world thru the view of the foreigner but in many cases more Bulgarian than the locals. This mockumentary approach to the outside world is the only way to keep sane in Bulgaria. A poignant view of a reality that is often hidden in broad daylight.

Song of the Random Master

It is on a thin layer of Gips that a soul is lifted
A cry in a field of watermelon, shiny oiled hair
A chain around the neck and a smile of ice.
The colossus rises
He is tall
5 feet high
born in the Carrera mine
of White Immaculate
Of his breath
the hope of new people springs up
Made of Flesh and Blood
Hooo king of Gips and de Carton
gives us the strength to change the rakia into water
Hoooo marble colossus shows us the pictorial voice
Images of the new dimension
do we wear punk and chalga?
We are the reason, Chalga Punk
We will overcome.

-

*a poem by Mitch

Lexi Fleurs is a visual artist who lives between Bulgaria and Switzerland. She studies at -HEAD Geneve where she spends most of her time unless she is on the road looking for trouble.  Her works are inspired by the absurdity of Balkan culture, the relations between East and West. Her practices owe as much to cultural and institutional criticism as to slapstick comedy. She is a painter, photographer, filmmaker, performance artist, or in other words - a wannabe capitalist god.

Born in France in 1989, Mitch Brezounek is based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria since 2016. He graduated from the Beaux Art Academy of Lorient, France, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in plastic arts. He was a member of the art collective Ouest Fisting from Lorient (2013 - 2017) part of the underground graphic culture with fanzines, silkscreen print, DYE, video, and other. His first solo show “Incubus” was curated by Voin de Voin in 2017 at the independent Æther gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria. Among his other solo shows are: “Venus Ritual”, Gallery L’Union, Plovdiv, (2018); “How to become the best artist in the world”, Institut of contemporary art Bulgaria, Sofia, (2021).