There are only two certain things in life; we are born and sooner or later we die.
Quite fucked up really not knowing anything else for certain, however even those two milestones come with valuable lessons and relationships that accompany us to the end ...or eternity, whatever applies.
Whether we belong to the lucky ones, who had a mother to love and to hold from the moment we were born, or not, we all understand and feel the significance of the archetypal figure of the Mother, either as a pregnant woman or as a lady with her baby in her arms. Christianity gave a prominent position to Holy Mother, and western art has been capturing the selfless love energy through her image for ages.
For me this kind of love is the true source of all artistic inspiration, as inspiration comes to the artist from another level of consciousness without asking for it. The artist becomes a creator himself, mimicking the act of birth on a lower and more superficial level.
Having said that, one of the very first paintings I created for Wild Donkey Festival, the Festival I designed to revive a deserted village in the island of Naxos, was that of the Mother. I didn't depict the Holy Mary as expected by religious protocols, I only made a subtle reference to Her holiness, focusing rather on the divine power of motherhood.
The only basic assumption and prerequisite for life that we can't really get wrong.
The painting was hanged right opposite the church of Mary in the village and all the villagers loved it. Of course among all of my paintings, I think this was the only one they could actually understand. Everything else was ridiculously modern for them.
I love this painting, I don't think I will ever sell it. What do you think?
