MARIJA TANASKOVIĆ PAPADOPOULOS: ART IS COMMUNICATION WITH SYMBOLS

The multiple award-winning artist spends her days in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, where her studio is located. Ivan Kalauzović peeked behind his scenes.

Marija Tanasković Papadopoulos was educated in her native Belgrade, and has been living in America since 2004. She realizes her visions by sculpting with terracotta, dancing with a brush and designing with modern software:

"My art is created by sketching my dreams, the references of which are found in shapes and scenes in reality. I construct the compositions of artistic visions in an unconscious state, and I give them symbolism by combining them in the conscious until the final result. Those pictures are also the result of my love for history and mythology ."

Many of Maria's works are applied and can be found on book covers or as part of interiors, which means that they inspire and complement other artists as well:

"Art lives and outlives the artist. It can carry out a huge reservoir of human energy and influence the observer to change his reality, and therefore the responsibility of the artist is enormous. I create a work to be the initial capsule for the development of consciousness, the evolution of souls and the impulse that he travels, creates new things, and heals all who come into contact with him."

Although she regularly uses new technologies in her work, in order to see the future sculpture in two or three dimensions before materialization, she is a big opponent of artificial intelligence, which has been talked about a lot lately:

"Artificial intelligence tries to imitate the human soul, but unsuccessfully. It only assumes, and art is communication with symbols that make man unique. Art is not only the art of creation. Art serves to improve the artistic expression, not to be an end in itself."

Maria traveled the world with her works and was often awarded. The exhibition at the New York fair "Artexpo" 2015 remained in her special memory, when she attracted the attention of fellow artists, gallerists and journalists. She plans to visit her hometown soon: "I have a lot of new works, and my style is constantly changing. I would like to organize a small retrospective exhibition in Belgrade in the near future, maybe at the Museum of Contemporary Art."

He says about creators in the U.S. from the Balkans:

"In America, there are many of our people who are engaged in art and I wish them all the best, but I think that I am fated not to cooperate with them because I don't often have the opportunity to meet them. In any case, I am interested and open to cooperation. " 

https://www.rts.rs/lat/rts/dijaspora/vesti/5288884/marija-tanaskovic-papadopulos-umetnost-je-komunikacija-simbolima.html