Sometimes there are distinct, figurative characters that come into being in my art, acting as the seers, doers, and surrogates in the universe of my works. In spring 2016, when I was preparing my diploma work for Art School MAA, the themes of power, greed, corruption, inequity, and inequality started to nest in my work. This approach was carried on in my solo exhibition Vallanputoussali (which could freely be translated as The Fall of Thrones), where these themes pose in their quirky portraits. Pompous manifestations of power are portrayed, and famous sayings of ancient roman politicians are also involved. To which side does the scale tilt?
Inspiration for some of my paintings comes from portraits of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who became the queen of France in the 1770’s and who, subsequently, lost her head in the tumult of the Revolution. She, too, gets to represent, either justly or unjustly but all the same intuitively, the aforementioned themes. The phrase ”Let them eat cake” is often attributed to her, supposedly as a reaction to the hungry masses not having enough bread. She never said that, though.
The names of the works create a link between history and the present.