In zijn prachtige biografische schets over Sjostakowitsj schrijft Julian Barnes: 'De kunst is de fluistering van de geschiedenis die boven het tumult van de tijd uit is te horen.' Preciezer zou ik het werk van Maria niet kunnen typeren. Het is niet het grote gebaar van installaties, vuistdikke verf op vele vierkante meters linnen of maatschappijkritiek in your face. Zelfs in haar monumentale werk in opdracht, zoals de 'Meeting Tiles' in Zevenaar (2001), vermijdt ze het grote gebaar en zoekt ze de compassie met de wereld in de precisie van haar beeldende kracht . Of de interventie bij de kunstbeurs van Athene in 2010: een serie groenten en kruiden in potten op de trappen van het gebouw, met daarboven als een guirlande uitgeknipt de titel van het werk: Growing Hope - in mijn ogen de belangrijkste drijfveer voor haar kunstenaarschap. Gefluisterde hoop die door het patina van de tijd alleen maar sterker en mooier zal worden.
In his wonderful biographical sketch of Shostakovich, Julian Barnes writes, 'Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time.' I could not describe Maria’s work with any greater accuracy. It is not the grand gesture of installations, fist-thick paint on copious square metres of canvas or ‘in your face’ socio-political critique. Even in her commissioned monumental work, such as the 'Meeting Tiles' in Zevenaar (2001), she avoids the grand gesture and seeks compassion for the world in the precision of her visual power. Or the intervention at the Athens art fair in 2010: a series of vegetables and herbs in pots on the steps of the building, with the title of the work cut out above it as a garland: Growing Hope - in my opinion the main driver of her artistic practice. Whispered hope that will only grow stronger and more beautiful through the patina of time.
Kees Weeda 2020
My work consists of long-term processes that approach topics related to my fundamental question of the balance between the collective and the individual.
Such as the notions of growth, literally and metaphorically, and care in a sense of taking care and worrying of our environment.
The economic crisis of the last years in my homeland Greece has influenced my thoughts. Beyond its political landscape I am mostly interested on how people share the space as citizens (polites) of a city (polis).
My artistic activity consists of commissions for the public space involving people in the making process, studio pieces made in solitude and public interventions. The three practices complement each other.
I am using a lot of different methods and materials in my work, with a preference in photography and time-consuming techniques inspired by folk arts, like embroidery on textile and cutting paper.
A short documentary about the body of works related to crisis in Greece canvas.be