Colors and Feelings
by Peggy Kounenaki
Real images, scenery with trees dominating in some, houses in some others complement the compositions, hints of human presence, bicycles and kites, seas and small boats are only some memory lacerations of the painter Zanna, transferred on the canvas which define her new work. Through the intimating shapes and bold colors are registered moments and situations full of tension and lyricism, in works that constitute a real statement of sensitivity and an invitation to escaping into a dreamy world, in which the innate uplift and the joy of life make up the basic aspirations. Her works are inspired by the forests and the sceneries of Pilio. There where the painter finds escape, inspiration, composure, since many of her paintings were painted on the site, whilst in others, those painted in her studio are included memories of distinct moments which she experienced close to nature. Her thoughts, meditations and feelings from the particular environment she transposes to her work, which from a first view is unsettling the viewer due to its variegation, defining, however, an inner search and a reference to a different world, material and mental, which most of the inhabitants of major cities have almost lost.
Zanna, though she comes from the realm of graphic arts, her entire up to date work contains the dynamism of a young artist, which already began tracing a creative cycle, each constituent of which contains the element of surprise and of the quest in the art of painting. For her the territories of painting and graphic design are entirely different though she manages combining the profession with passion, without betraying any of the two. Besides, what is characterizing her painting, except the complete compositions, is the creative coupling of different tendencies and techniques of the 20th century, the break with conventional rules, either those have to do with the drawing or with the technique or even with the use of color.
She began exhibiting in 2005, participating initially in collective exhibitions before advancing to individual ones, in the
Exhibition site of Ianos Bookshop, the Greek Center of London, Zappeion Palace, the Cultural Center of Saronida, whilst her recent work is exhibited in the Karydeion Cultural Center of Filothei. Her first works come under descriptive painting. Initially she paints objects in space, aspiring giving her own optical view to reality. Later, inspired by poetry, she creates scenery in which are female figures, in waiting or meditating posture, which have their faces turn towards infinity. The viewer is aware of their presence but also of their absence at the same time. For the aggregate of these works she uses the white and the black colors, precisely stressing the specific notion of presence/absence, which she elaborates in an interesting and original manner. She attempts balancing the drawing with the message, the painting with the meaning, the image and its content.
The venue of Zappeion Palace shall preoccupy her next. Its past grandeur shall be juxtaposed by the haphazard and unkempt growth of vegetation of nowadays. However, the natural environment of Zappion shall lead her beyond the city. She will search for her subject matter in the forests and sceneries of Pilio, where she would paint most of her works in the natural site, a fact allowing her to deepen in her subject and to approach the wild nature, to discover and register its secrets. Her deep knowledge so far as composition and techniques are concerned, shall be impressed on the canvas in a composite manner. The most expressionistic element depicted in her painting, co-exist with some, though scanty, naturalistic hints. Her impeccable drawing is combined with bold colors, such as the bold or the light red, a distinct green with turquoise hues. Colors chosen especially for this work set, expressing the feeling which the subject matter imposes on her, whatever she experiences and feels as she is present and paints in the forest. She re-moulds in a special manner the tension and the tranquility of the site.
Moreover, any incident occupying her mentally is transferred on the canvas with light or strong brush strokes, in a pure emotional manner. Her colors are sometimes mixed and at other times are worked singly; their tonal gradations demonstrate her study so far as the light is concerned. Thus, the viewer, on the one hand, may distinguish the control a traditional painter exerts on her expressive media and on the other hand may establish the gesturing freedom imposed by her expressionist tendency or disposition. The results of these contradictory, at first sight, impulses as they are transferred on to the canvas acquire a complexity. With the techniques that Zanna brings to the surface, consciously or unconsciously, she confirms the famous thesis of the American painter Helen Frankenthaler: “the only applicable rule is the one abolishing all rules”. This, after all, constitutes one of the main features of her work. She does not follow rules; on the contrary, all rules concerning her work are incorporated during the creative process, thus projecting a distinct, composite and interesting result.
In her current scenery work, besides trees constituting the basic element, are to be seen some houses or some human figures given in an exceptionally abstract manner. Humans and their activities are presupposed. Zanna has her own explanation: “Man is presupposed, since essentially, what we see is only his soul. The kites are his thoughts and dreams. And he looks as if he has come out of his body so as to encounter the truth, with no emotionalism or deviations. He judges and he is being judged. It is an important thing for us to be what we wish to be… Most people do not live in harmony with themselves. I think that only close to nature one may find the answers he is looking for…” She asks for the same breakthrough from the viewer of her works.
What is of special interest in Zanna’s work is that from descriptive painting she passes into a balanced abstraction, as well as to an almost controlled expressionistic style. It has already been said that bold colors characterize her current work. Very often we see that her trees are fashioned without any descriptive element, but with naturally disparate colors. This brings her closer to the French fauvists, if we are to think of the characteristic phrase of Paul Gauguin: “if an artist imagines the tree leaves as yellow, let him paint them thus”. This to a degree is what Zanna follows. Thus, color in her works constitutes the basis of a lively and joyous eruption. She composes, one may say, an art synonymous with youthfulness and joy. She is as if she carries a huge load of feelings and emotions, which she finally brings to consummation with color only.
The freshness of her painting is found in her daring in matching of all the previous visual experiences; in her strength to come into collision with anything limiting her from the renewal of any impulse. Colors, many colors, their simultaneous mixing but also their separation, so that form does not become the objective is the aim. The chromatic feast dominates now as form. Her painting acquires a clear character and one could say that it functions as an end in itself. Finally, it has to do with a painting full of passionate emotions, expressing the happiness of an existence refusing convention, not following established painting rules, obeying only instincts of harmony and colors.
Zanna, through her work does nothing else but expresses herself; her thoughts, meditations, beliefs, wishes. She aims at causing deeper feelings in the viewer, introducing him into her world, which though void of elements of a faithful descriptive reality, may lead him into paths where memory, feelings and emotional tensions have the preeminence. The painter wishes to rise up and react – and is quite successful in doing so – against a reality from which many wish escaping. With art as a vehicle, she attempts the breakthrough from the mundane and ranged here and now that does not appear suiting her at all.
August 2010
