★ ECLIPSE Almanac page 20 ★
filippos kavakas <kavakasfilippos@gmail.com>
5▯▯▯▯2020, 11:35 am
p▯▯▯ larry
Hey Larry, nice hearing from you.
Really crazy times…
My work revolves around "primordial" subjects through the course of art history.
Landscapes, portraits, vases and geometrical shapes that have constituted basic structures and attempts towards abstract art. In the Vase painting, the title is inspired by Sun Ra’s piece "Space is the Place".
Reversing Sun Ra’s hopeful point of view, I named my work Vase in Space based not only on stories of space colonization, but science fiction in general. Relocating in that – now set – space all the mistakes and ideas that are now considered defective, purely aesthetic and finite, I raise the questions; Do we still carry those dated ideas in our contemporary societies like a vase carries its rotten insides/ outdated contents? Is today constructed on yesterday’s mistakes? The Vase, as a utility, is now placed in a pictorial world, ultimately becoming a decoration. Simultaneously, the exact vase is an indicator of economic status and social diversity.
A Weimar vase, the possession of a royal family or a vase that belongs to a rural family, despite their portrayed distinctiveness, are both vases – objects. Only one of them, though, could possibly retain its value of use. This dual quality of use and image, creates a post-modern problematic about the relativity between object – utility and aesthetic.
Their reversed depiction in the pictorial space acts as an ironic commentary on the reversal of utility; Everything spills! Similarly, in politics, a protest often takes meaning from the action of reversal of the symbol, which could eventually be as bold as a flag. It could also just be an account to another artist, referring to George Baselitz.
Their depiction as space rockets is also satirical of contemporary trends, the thematic of vases is very common among the artists. The vases might come from different civilizations, cultures and periods of time but they are made by people.
We are all inside the same vase, travelling through history and art, destined to an unknown future.