Views of the exhibition, Viktor Freso & Polat Tayir, Two humorous and serious nostalgias
Victor Freso's work is modern and Western. However, his starting point is Eastern Europe, the country in which he was conceived. In "Aladin", the Genie of the Magic Lamp rises like smoke and takes on a gigantic form to fly around the world. In the same way, Victor's work blossoms from its roots and takes flight in Europe and the rest of the world with nostalgia for its origin.
One of the works presented for this exhibition is a modern sculpture on a traditional pot. His explosive work contains nostalgic humor. It is like the gaze of a foreigner observing Western Europe with his feet touching his roots. This is where his work begins.
In the contemporary art world, Jeff Koons has been hitting international galleries and top collectors around the world with his work. This time it was Viktor who struck Jeff Koons. Koons mocked tradition and the art world with the language of contemporary art. Viktor works in his own language, unlike Jeff Koons and contemporary art.
If Koons' buffoonery is cold buffoonery, Victor's is hot buffoonery. If Koons' experience as a successful dealer who made millions of dollars at a young age gave rise to his audacity. The strength of Victor's entrenched history sparked his courage.
He has not lost his originality despite the invasion of contemporary art in Western Europe. Even if his work is provocative, it is not violent, thanks to the childlike sensitivity of the artist.
I consider this purity proper to Eastern Europe. I have lived it, I have seen it. In 1999, I spent a month in Prague to visit a friend. For me, the art school students in Prague were more beautiful than Prague. The students were honest, pure. They were not contaminated by the capitalism of Western Europe. In a situation, where Eastern Europe was opening up, the students seemed perplexed by the invasion of Western culture.
Just as the white paper is easily stained with paint, their pure sensibilities were at risk from the clever temptations of Western and American cultures. Such a situation made me think of the works presented in the Eastern European pavilion at the 1999 Venice Biennale. Older established artists followed the old Western European modernism. They raised the white flag on the waves of foreign powers. In contrast, the younger generation refused to surrender. They wandered between their own purity and the unprecedented trends of the West.
After finishing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague 2003, Viktor's work found its place in the wave of pluralism created by Western Europe. But without being swept away by it, he has always kept his roots. Viktor is now riding this wave of pluralism with his work.
When I see Viktor, he reminds me of Emir Kusturica. Not because of the artist's appearance, but because the questions and cries of the filmmaker's films towards the Western society are part of Viktor's work. These voices confront Western society and our society in a singular way.
Jungmin CHOI
Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne
V I K T O R F R E S O & P O L A T T A Y I R
DUO SHOW
Two humorous and serious nostalgias
Polat Tayir - Mise en scène VI, 2023 - Oil on canvas, H86 x 100 cm
Galerie Géraldine Banier presents a Duo exhibition of the artists, Polat Tayir and Viktor Frešo.
Two artists whose metaphorical pictorial language relates the nostalgia of their origins to the way they look at the world today.
The originality of the two artists, Polat and Viktor, begins where they were born, in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Regions of the world where the borders with the West have resisted the onslaught of capitalism and globalization. What the two artists propose to the public is their nostalgia full of humor and seriousness...
Just as Camus speaks of the beauty of Tipaza, Algeria, where he was born, in "Noces; l'Eté", Polat Tayir's works reveal a love for his origins and family as an artist. In his series of paintings entitled "Mise en scène", Polat composes a theatrical space. Children are placed on the traditional Uyghur red carpet. There are lights, electric wires are connected. He gives meaning to the elements of his painting and invites the audience to enter his story.
The artist expresses himself in a metaphorical way. The traditional red carpet represents the territory of his people and the curtain installed in the background delimits two spaces, two worlds. This composition creates a border that is crossed by interconnected electrical wires, symbols of the dangers that surround us.
It was forbidden for Renaissance painters to express their thoughts. That is why they used metaphors, such as the round pillar carried by the angels in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, which signified the passion of Christ.
Polat also hides meanings in the elements of his painting. He thus organizes his painting like a theater scene. One of the remarkable points is the temporality of the scene in his painting. This place is not a studio in a building. It is a temporary setting with a tent, lights and a carpet on the floor. Like his canvas, the artist is always on the move. Sometimes his canvas is his hand, naked or covered with a workman's glove, this hand trying to insert itself into new landscapes. But this is not an aimless wandering, this is how his ancestors built their traditional houses and led a nomadic life.
Through his works, Polat pays homage to his people, his origins and his native city which he cherishes. He brings together Europe and the world and his spiritual and aesthetic roots in his works.
He presents his story to an anonymous audience from all over the world. The audience travels through the artist's history, his hometown, his world.
Polat's nostalgia is exposed to the public. And his working process, which we don't know how far it will take him, is not a simple desire for regret, but a journey to find a sincere answer. Like Camus....
Viktor Freso - Vikivase, 2021 - , Mixed media