Our contemporary world is replete with media images, photography is readily available to everyone, and we are constantly dealing with multiple images at any given moment. Imagery is a part of contemporary human life. Even our language and emotions are communicated visually. Part of contemporary painting is figurative painting, with a focus on the use of photography. We express our emotions through ready-made visual icons in the virtual world. As images become increasingly more pervasive, we seem to be returning to the age of visual language. Thus, the dispute between photography and painting is basically over: now the two media can become the means to art production, always peacefully, and at times even working side by side. Gerhard Richter was a trailblazer in the field. He had a considerable impact on postmodern painting: a current that is developed in many directions and is closely tied to the cultural, geographic root of the painter/artist.
Militaristic imagery is a part of a concept I started to utilize back in 2010. At present, however, they are the raw material for my paintings, sometimes flavored with ironies and metaphors. In my recent series, “Euphoria,” the nature of media images is retained while painting has found a vast arena for a playful exploration: the interactions of color and light, painterly actions, stains, running colors, happenstance, textures, and so on.
In fact, now the subject matter breaks free from the painting, leaning more or less towards Kitsch, and thus the artist paints unreservedly. Dealing with militaristic images is rooted in pop culture with an eye on minimalism in terms of composition. The media swap places and the painterly process takes shape. Ultimately, an artistic product is created that I think has no sublime status: it is nothing by an art object.