The process of creating the triptych about my country’s journey through the Soviet Union to the independence has been a challenging practice for me. At the start, I collected a multitude of pre-planned sketches and photographs, hoping that I would build a perfect composition and everything would go smoothly but as I soon found out sometimes when aesthetics are not as pleasing as you expect them to be, you have to intervene. I am not a big planner, I always preferred working instinctively, directly onto the canvas, but after starting caring a sketchbook I soon came to the realization, how much better my past paintings could’ve looked if I put these extra thoughts to them. Layering all the possibilities, trying different palette combinations out- it all made a huge difference in the end. By all the artist research that I had to carry, I was hugely influenced on my choice of colour in all three of my paintings by Jules de Balincaurt. He uses bright colours, to depict a drastic reality. Two completely opposite things but by looking at his work I came to realization that it is achievable to make the viewer glimpse and understand that it’s a canvas with happy colours and a narrative about horrifying experience. The colours in a way intensify the irony of the war and the constant battle between nations, people, and generations. In my case, it shows the stupidity of the Soviet regime and how everyone was dragged into illusionistic future plans that in the end, led to the collapse and additional problems for generations to come.
My goal with the works was to create an intrigue of the ambiance by the settle work. This is why I deliberately put one main figure in all three of the paintings. The subject matter is clear and the dominant feature really gives it a sense of a triptych series that depict all three major aspects of the society: The power, the citizen, and the protector. My work has been hugely shaped by the experience of growing up in my country but despite the fact that I come from the post-soviet republic, I never had a deep understanding of the concept and the history, all I had was a daily life hugely shaped by the past. After completing this project, I find myself in a full awareness of my past and now I can relate more to the other artists who feel responsible for their country. As I didn’t have a chance to fight for it in the past or cannot change anything currently, I can proudly say that at least I painted for it.
The Power:
The Citizen:
The Protector:
If you want to know deeper stories, what each of the pieces represent and how it progressed to the final result, you can find blogs about them separately on my Steemit. Please leave feedback and your thoughts, it means the world to me!
Thank you so much,
Maria