Grigoria Dama is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts where she lives and works as a teacher. In her recent works she gives an emphasis to the fabric, and particularly to an existing embroidery which will give her basis or her stimulus to embed her narrative. The artistic process that she follows is the addition or removal of elements in a continuous dialogue of information and emotions. For her as she tell us, arise: «… stories being unfold, fold, implied, and wait for the viewer to decode them again, as everyone knits his own history, following the thread on the route he every time chooses «.
In her paintings color plays a dominant role as a communicator of memories and unconscious images.
- Grigoria, besides art, what else do you do?
The emphasis on expression, communication and symbolism involved in the art led me in parallel to my occupation with language and writing. So I completed my studies in English Literature. Shortly afterwards followed studies in Spain and England. Combining this knowledge and experience, I teach in secondary schools. All this, of course, have a common axis, creating a multidimensional field of experiences that will boost my art.
- What is art for you?
I believe that art is a way of expressing emotions and experiences, experiences that could not be externalized otherwise. It is a kind of writing / recording, the language of my soul.
- At what age have you realized that you wanted to become an artist and in what occasion?
My involvement with painting started at a very young age. I always liked to use color, it gave new life to anything that I was making. Growing up I realized it had become a way of life. At 21 I started to seriously deal with painting and drawing. The occasion was my return from Spain, where I lived for some time. There, my contact with art was catalytic. When you come face to face with such important works of art, in a magical way you are liberated and a mechanism activates in you that pushes you to create in your turn, using your own images, forms, codes and symbols.
- What is your favorite artistic tool or material?
The material I use mostly in my works is oil. I prefer it because it gives me absolute freedom rounding a form. I can easily be moved from the ethereal and intangible to compact, to cover or dis-cover a surface, creating a dreamy pictorial space, where all is said and all implied.
Recent of course I discovered the magic of another material. The fabric, in which I give great value and works in my work not as a canvas but as an integral part of the final project, giving a more poetic dimension to the impression of stories I tell in my paintings.
- What is your favorite piece of your work?
Favorite work: Remembrance, I made it in 2012.
- What kind of work would you like to have created?
Some from the etchings of Rembrandt.
The Little Children Being Brought to Jesus – Rembrandt
- Who is your favorite artist?
I indicatively mention some of my favorites:
Jean Dubuffet, Nicolas de Staël, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell
- What haven’t you done and still would like to do?
Having the opportunity to travel to places that have not yet visited and this whole process to be a source of inspiration for my art.
- A word or a feeling that you hate?
Words fatigue and inactivity. I think they should not even exist in the life of an artist.
- What is the feeling when you finish a work?
When I conclude a work of mine the sense I have is the need to create a new work, as if this work has left its mark, a hidden message to be reflected in the next. As if there is a story that slowly unfolds and you feel the need to tell until it’s over.
Thank you Grigoria! You can see more of her work on her site.
Editing: Eleftheria Vonaparti – Translated by: Gretel Athanasiou
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Κατηγορίες:If this is the answer what is the question?, Painting
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