Inspiration #4: Eastern European artists
Marina Abramovic by Ignatiades Konstantinos - Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki – MOMus, Greece
There is something about Eastern European artists that has always fascinated me. Something that makes them unique and, at the same time, connects them all: the way they perceive darkness.For reasons that I imagine are deeply cultural, they do not see darkness as something negative. They embrace it. By darkness I mean death, fear, grief, and the darker side of human nature as a whole.
These ideas are not always the central theme of their work. They are not always explicit or even tangible. Yet they are almost always present. You can see them, or hear them in the case of music.
Marina Abramović, Sylveszter Makó, Laura Makabrescu, Dora Abodi and Molchat Doma, some of my favourite artists, all express this relationship with darkness in their own way and through different mediums. Rather than treating these subjects as taboo, which feels more common in Western Europe, they bring them into the open. In doing so, they also invite us into their traditions, folklore and history.
Over time, I have realised that I am not drawn to images that are optimistic or polished. I am drawn to images that feel whole. Images that understand beauty does not exist in spite of darkness, but also because of it.
Perhaps that is why I always find myself returning to these artists. They remind me that creating is not simply about making reality more beautiful. It is about having the courage to look at it as it is.