CLIMBERS OF THE SEAS
The average quality of Greek contemporary art is equal to the art of other European countries. Maybe, the fact that Greek painters did not always follow the trends from abroad was benefactory for their artistic production.
However, the populism of the generation of the 3O’s impeded a proper elaboration of the changes and the movements inside and outside the country, resulting in the abusive Resurrection of the byzantine technique by kontoglou, and- the total selling off of aesthetics by his successors.
The depreciation by the Left of all the techniques that did not suit its aesthe.tics, along with the bourgeois pseudo-elegance of the technique, namely the Gestalt theory taught in the School of Fine Arts for decades, as well as other bitter issues made us miss not only our innocence for painting, but also many trains and stations.
Of course, for once more l will be blamed of a baroque-like verbalism, but was there ever baroque in Greece, so that we experience it and have it properly integrated in our aesthetics; I do not think so. Kessanlis spent a long time in Italy and was a connoisseur of baroque, Larnbraki-Plaka was just a traveller, while, according to some, Doula Mouriki had taken the best notes on it.
Of course, Zanna cannot be compared to all the above, this is not the point. Her subject is sea-painting. Not seascapes. Tsarouhis painted wonderful pictures and Diamadopouios produced wonderful painting.
Let’s not confuse things.
The most interesting aspect of Zanna’s painting is the horizon. And this is due to her innocence and her genuineness, while she strives with her brushes to paint waves and blue ports.
With little boats, and sand, and salt, and cranes, and buoys, and clouds, and froth she brings her horizon up and down, risking to be mistaken, but like iean Genet’s Tightrope walker she manages to balance without demur.
Her strokes are not diffusive; the sea in her paintings is not boxed in, but overflows agreeably. Hence, you should see something more in her paintings, something irreversible, foreboding her following works; perfect angry diagonal clouds, leave the loquacity of her seas and move on to the next subject of encounter. She might as well continue striving with the salt.
To be continued…
A(n)tonis Vathis, Sculptor
