TERROR AREAS 2005
TERROR AREAS
The work of Alexandra Marati
constructs and deconstructs the space of a two-dimensional surface in such a
way that the imagined extension of space, via its compositional and analytics
planes, create a type of theatre set where the “happening” is the artistic act
itself, an act which appears to levitate as unfinished yet perfect. In
performing this act herself emphasizes her interest in structuring space by
using shabby materials from the world of painting and elsewhere while at the
same time this space encloses all imagined, real and unreal spaces so as to
give the impression of liveable spaces
such as deconstructed rooms, areas, streets, via the gesture encapsulated in
their construction. Lines and shapes become her building blocks, the material
which comes from emotional states and experiences. We could say that in this
way Alexandra Marati has prevented the image from becoming immobilized since it
is developing, evolving in experiential and life terms.
The dialectic created by this
relationship provoked by the space takes on a constructional and structural
intensity which insinuates its very own kind of structural – metaphorical
deconstruction since the artist constructs, in other words arranges objects,
colours, drawings and various materials so that via this composition she
creates the impression of unfathomable destruction.
Spectacular oppositions conceal
the unity of poverty. If different forms of the same alienation struggle
against each other in the guise of irreconcilable antagonisms, this is because
they are all based on real contradictions that are repressed. The spectacle
exists in a concentrated form and a diffuse form, depending on the requirements
of the particular stage of poverty it denies and supports. In both cases it is
nothing more than an image of happy harmony surrounded by desolation and
horror, at the calm centre of misery. The society that bears the spectacle does
not dominate underdeveloped regions solely by its economic hegemony. It also
dominates them as the society of the spectacle. Even where the material base is
still absent, modern society has already used the spectacle to invade the
social surface of every continent. – Guy Debord, la société du spectacle.
In this specific work of
Alexandra Marati is now experimenting with materials but above all with space
and its objective dimension. From dream space, which we saw in her previous
works and the archetypes they encapsulated, she has moved to the space of real
and realistic culture. We can go so far to say that the artist handles her new
materials in a particularly interesting manner while at the same time her
colour arrangements and tonality draw on her own personal dialectic
equilibrium.
Dorothea Konteletzidou
Art Historian
December 2004