INTERVIEW: Margarita Petrova – dreamideamachine ART VIEW

The principal reason that I follow closely the work of Margarita Petrova is the alternations of the expressive media that she is using with the same ease and comfort. Painting, Collage, Embroidery, Video and Performance, in parallel, without one of them get above or overshadowing the other, but also the projects shedevelops in parallel… In her new series of works, that I have the pleasure to curate, painting coexists with collage for the sake of the idea, to reveal to us dreamy, personal landscapes with exploding skies and inside them each of us has the opportunity to discover pieces of his own puzzle.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Dimitris Lempesis & Yiannis Varelas

Mrs. Margarita Petrova the title of your new series of works that are on show in Gallery 7 is “Wallen Lands”, A title that is consistent with the times we live in, since the uncertainty through the social and political conditions that surround us seem to have been consolidated. How much has this period affected you, are they artworks that started during the quarantine?

“Wallen Lands” takes its title from the English word “whale” which means cetacean. “Wallen” in German has the meaning of dome, protected by the God, rotation and roundness. Our age could be identified with this fluidity of the fragile shapes. The metaphysical and at the same time the earthly element has to do with the environment, where we live, breathe, evolve. At the same time, it concerns personal narratives, which take you to dreamy and paradoxical places. These artworks started before the covid period, but most part of the series was created under these unprecedented conditions. For the artists, the truth is that in addition to the difficult situations we all experienced, we found the time and space to communicate with ourselves, to develop our work, as an opportunity and a need at the same time.

Nonetheless, your artworks are very auspicious not only through the colors, but also from the materials you are using such as: painting, collage, papyrus, but also postcards that involve memory, remembrance and travel.

They are auspicious because they contain the element of fantasy, poetry and daydreaming. The existing and realistic element (card postal, engravings) comes in antithesis with the color abstraction of circular shapes, the explosions, creating cosmogenic places that also narrate a story.

Are your artworks a journey? What is your relationship with memory, dream and heaven? Why? What does it represent for you?

For each artist, his works are a journey parallel to his personal journey through the world. The concepts of memory, dream and Uranus have occupied me since the beginning of this journey of mine. Memory is contained in almost all my works through their materiality, choosing objects charged with it, mainly personal but also symbolic. The skies are constantly coming back to my work. Either through the embroidery that is sewn and hung under gold frames, or through the collage creating dreamy places. To me the sky symbolizes this openness, the emptiness, the transition to the divine and the unknown. The skies of “wallen lands” have a very strong element, influenced by the painting of the symbolic and universal skies of the renaissance.

In all your work, just like this particular exhibition, you love alternations, what do they offer you and where they lead you as an artist? Painting, Collage, Installation, Videos, Performance, which represents you the most? In which expressive medium do you discover the difficulties and the challenges in which the conveniences are revealed?

I cannot say that an expressive media represents me more than the other. As tools, all expressive media offer me their potentials, to express what I want. This alternation fascinates me, offering me experiences and multiple readings of art itself. There are common references, common elements that concern me in every medium. All of these are pieces of a puzzle that clearly represents my personal identity as an artist. The bigger an artwork is the bigger the bigger its requirements. For me, the series of artworks that are on show in Gallery 7 in Athens is a creative breath and a need to redefine drawing and painting through paper.

As an artist you have an essential path-course and a continuous presence in Greece and abroad, as we know you are collaborating also with a gallery in Paris. You consider through from your experience that in order for a Greek artist to become part of the international scene and to make international career is difficult? Is it even harder for a female artist?

In Greece there are many and remarkable artists, I think more than those that the Greek art market and the cultural institutions of the country can withstand, all could have a strong course abroad. The biggest problem is clearly the financial. Certainly, the power of the image through World Wide Web but also the fast information has helped a lot in the participation of artists in exhibitions abroad. But if we want to speak about international career it requires for an artist to leave, to live abroad and work there. I find much more difficult for a woman to have a professional career in any profession due to her multiple social roles, but also to the stereotypes that prevent her from evolving.

Download Greek version here.

Info: Curator Efi Michalarou, Gallery 7, 20 Solonos str, Athens Greece, Duration: 31/5-25/6/2022, Days & Hours: Tue, Thu-Fri 11:00-14:00 & 18:00-21:00, Wed & Sat 11:00-15:00, www.gallery7.gr/