Maria Givner ART Habens
In the case of“ 10 Egyptian Plagues” – at the beginning they had to be a part of a commissioned work for Passover Book, but were rejected by the author. At this time I have already illustrated couple of Haggadah Tales, but they were very traditional and I wanted to express my own opinion of the famous story and my own vision. So I desided to continue this project for myself. It takes about three years to finish it – I worked on it between my commercial projects, every time changing or adding something according to my own creative evolution.
As you noticed I borrow my inspiration from a fantasy and mystical sources, from fairy tales, legends, fantasy books and music. And my aim is to show another worlds behind this real visible one. As I understand the Universe it`s combined from various spheres and layers of reality. Some people can see different parts of it and to communicate with it. This doesn`t contradict my faith in God because I believe in the complexity and endlessness of creation. I`m glad that now people turn back to the fantasy, mystic and unvisible side of the world, that technology and science can now go together with magic and spiritual experiences. In my art I want to express this side of the world, to travel behind the line.
It`s an important question. I used to think the artist should stay away from a politic and to be a kind of objective viewer. But it does not mean he shouldn`t think about human, about wars, about all that is happen around. OK, there are no rules and if you like to paint landscapes or naturmortes – you are welcome. As for me – I try to express in my art my ideas about all of that – about us as a part of Universe, our role in this life and what happens after, and who need it all. This is nothing about politic, but this is about a Man and himself. And I feel it`s a kind of my creative duty and my theme in art for now.
Although it`s hard for me to absorb a pure abstract art, I realize that there are not enough visual tools to express spiritual subjects in a realistic way. If you are talking about unvisible things, sometimes you have no words and no images for it. So the abstract vocabulary is the additional tool in this conversation. It takes you to the world of feelings that doesn`t need explanation. The
21 406
Special Issue