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The role of art in a totalitarian country, as Romania was in my youth, is different than it is in the free world. Under a totalitarian regime the art |
The role of art in a totalitarian country, as Romania was in my youth, is different than it is in the free world. Under a totalitarian regime the art is either forced to surpass its aesthetic function, in order to engage in the fight against The Lie, exposing it, or to be a simple tool used by those regimes to distort the reality. In those circumstances the truth could not be openly spoken, therefore it took unusual forms, which were hard to grasp at first glance. The majority of my work done in Romania does not easily reveal itself to the hurried viewer. These paintings have hidden connotations, although the message is always based on general human values, which could not be freely expressed in a totalitarian regime. Scenes of everyday life acquire expressionist and dramatic nuances, the chromatic palette usually being based on deep, grave tones, seldom touched by light tones, used not to solve the mystery but to accentuate it.
"In the battle against the lie Art has always been victorious"
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
