Interview with Matina Vossou
1. Women have been captured in art throughout history. What image of a woman (historical or fictional) impacts your imagination, and why?
When I was still a pupil in elementary school, I remember that we had at home a heavy volume on classical painters. I was browsing through it with the utmost awe and a kind of religious adoration. I was staring at the portraits and the figures in complete ecstasy and I was usually wondering “who are these people.” Of course, when these portraits were commissioned by sovereigns and aristocrats, I was getting my answers very quickly but I was especially drawn by faces painted inside more elaborated scenes: Boticelli’s Madonnas and Venuses, Ingres’ Turkish Bath, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading The People. One work of art that I remember fondly is actually two paintings: Francisco Goya’s The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja. There is the image of a young woman posing in exactly the same position in two different versions and embracing her female nature and identity. Goya pictured her with a clear vision and with a touching and liberating simplicity. His eyes didn’t see any shame or profanity. He made me think that this girl is someone that I know or maybe some friend that I will meet in the future, when I grow up. That made a huge impact on me. It is funny that when we see paintings of people, we approach them like they are living; usually they remind us of some acquaintance or relative. We feel a personal intimacy with portraits. Through our observing eyes, memories evoke and feelings emerge. Faces in paintings know no time past or future; they live in the perpetual present of their occasional viewer.
Nota Bene: It would be an unforgivable omission on my part not to mention the mind-blowing Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits. The astonishing power of her personality and her artistic skillfulness are incomparable. She is definitely one of the most significant artists of all times, a true source of inspiration and hope, a free thinker and a courageous fighter against our patriarchal societies.
2. As a self-taught artist, what advice do you have for others who aspire to develop their abilities?
Being a self-taught artist is quite challenging; you have to battle with your inner insecurities while being in a wild trip educating yourself and absorbing new information continuously. Sometimes we see something and try to depict it. Other times we have to paint it in order to see it. It is all a matter of understanding that goes deeper.
Everything is connected: a line that leads to a memory or a color that wakes up a sound.
The majority of artists, self-taught or academically educated, strive to make a living. Most of the times are obliged to consume their energy and time doing jobs just to be able to survive. This has also been my case. I took a long hiatus from painting but now I am back expressing myself. Creating gives hope, makes you dream and gives meaning when things around wither or get dark.
So, my advice to my fellow self-taught artists is to stay true to their calling, not to give up despite the setbacks, the delays or the obstacles they may encounter. Just keep going with no regrets, developing your skills, your sensitivity and awareness.
3. If you could ask any artist (living or dead) to create your portrait, who would it be, and why?
Usually, we tend to define a portrait as successful by the similarity of the model to the result. This is exactly the purpose of hyperrealism and can amaze the spectators with the photographic copying of reality. But how objective can a portrait be? What we get is mainly the way the painter sees and illustrates someone and not the model itself. I often recollect the words of a fellow painter who had asked me once commenting on my artwork: “You know that you draw yourself, don’t you?” This got me thinking seriously; the faces of other people are like a mirror where we try to project our face. We try to understand others through ourselves and vice versa. It is a never-ending interaction, a basic tool of the human mind and psyche.
In this case, I would choose to have my portrait created by an artist who is familiar with me, my ideas, my habits, my work and the tone of my voice. The artistic depiction of a face is so much more than a superficial portrayal of our eyes, nose and mouth. There must be sounds, smells and colors that complement the image. That could only provide a more accurate and a little less subjective outcome.
I had the blessing to see a portrait of me created in this way by an artist friend; all the right colors that characterize most of my moments were used. It is an eloquent yet silent witness of my presence. I have the joy to look at it every day and so to be reminded of myself, my multifaceted projections and reflections. Above all, I have the pleasure to be constantly reminded of the importance and the complexity of the human perception.
Matina Vossou is a self-taught artist living in Athens, Greece. She uses acrylics and a toothpick, a technique which she learned by her father, who was a naïve painter. She paints faces like perfectly unfinished mosaics of emotions and ideas. The skin is depicted cracked and like is illuminated from the inside. She believes that every face is a journey and probably looking at them is going to be our longest, most adventurous and knowledgeable trip. Her most recent participations were in Onboards Biennale in Antwerp, Belgium, in Emerging Scene in Dubai, UAE, in Artbox, (Urbanside Gallery in Zurich, Tana Art Place in Venice, Swissartexpo, also in Zurich) and in Expo Metro in the collective artwork, Downtown Los Angeles. She has exhibited her artworks in MADS Gallery in Milan. She has been featured in various art magazines. Except from painting, she also loves writing; her play “The Nothing of People” (a dystopian comedy) was published in Greek in 2018. You can see more of her artwork at: www.instagram.com/matinavossou
When I was still a pupil in elementary school, I remember that we had at home a heavy volume on classical painters. I was browsing through it with the utmost awe and a kind of religious adoration. I was staring at the portraits and the figures in complete ecstasy and I was usually wondering “who are these people.” Of course, when these portraits were commissioned by sovereigns and aristocrats, I was getting my answers very quickly but I was especially drawn by faces painted inside more elaborated scenes: Boticelli’s Madonnas and Venuses, Ingres’ Turkish Bath, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading The People. One work of art that I remember fondly is actually two paintings: Francisco Goya’s The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja. There is the image of a young woman posing in exactly the same position in two different versions and embracing her female nature and identity. Goya pictured her with a clear vision and with a touching and liberating simplicity. His eyes didn’t see any shame or profanity. He made me think that this girl is someone that I know or maybe some friend that I will meet in the future, when I grow up. That made a huge impact on me. It is funny that when we see paintings of people, we approach them like they are living; usually they remind us of some acquaintance or relative. We feel a personal intimacy with portraits. Through our observing eyes, memories evoke and feelings emerge. Faces in paintings know no time past or future; they live in the perpetual present of their occasional viewer.
Nota Bene: It would be an unforgivable omission on my part not to mention the mind-blowing Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits. The astonishing power of her personality and her artistic skillfulness are incomparable. She is definitely one of the most significant artists of all times, a true source of inspiration and hope, a free thinker and a courageous fighter against our patriarchal societies.
2. As a self-taught artist, what advice do you have for others who aspire to develop their abilities?
Being a self-taught artist is quite challenging; you have to battle with your inner insecurities while being in a wild trip educating yourself and absorbing new information continuously. Sometimes we see something and try to depict it. Other times we have to paint it in order to see it. It is all a matter of understanding that goes deeper.
Everything is connected: a line that leads to a memory or a color that wakes up a sound.
The majority of artists, self-taught or academically educated, strive to make a living. Most of the times are obliged to consume their energy and time doing jobs just to be able to survive. This has also been my case. I took a long hiatus from painting but now I am back expressing myself. Creating gives hope, makes you dream and gives meaning when things around wither or get dark.
So, my advice to my fellow self-taught artists is to stay true to their calling, not to give up despite the setbacks, the delays or the obstacles they may encounter. Just keep going with no regrets, developing your skills, your sensitivity and awareness.
3. If you could ask any artist (living or dead) to create your portrait, who would it be, and why?
Usually, we tend to define a portrait as successful by the similarity of the model to the result. This is exactly the purpose of hyperrealism and can amaze the spectators with the photographic copying of reality. But how objective can a portrait be? What we get is mainly the way the painter sees and illustrates someone and not the model itself. I often recollect the words of a fellow painter who had asked me once commenting on my artwork: “You know that you draw yourself, don’t you?” This got me thinking seriously; the faces of other people are like a mirror where we try to project our face. We try to understand others through ourselves and vice versa. It is a never-ending interaction, a basic tool of the human mind and psyche.
In this case, I would choose to have my portrait created by an artist who is familiar with me, my ideas, my habits, my work and the tone of my voice. The artistic depiction of a face is so much more than a superficial portrayal of our eyes, nose and mouth. There must be sounds, smells and colors that complement the image. That could only provide a more accurate and a little less subjective outcome.
I had the blessing to see a portrait of me created in this way by an artist friend; all the right colors that characterize most of my moments were used. It is an eloquent yet silent witness of my presence. I have the joy to look at it every day and so to be reminded of myself, my multifaceted projections and reflections. Above all, I have the pleasure to be constantly reminded of the importance and the complexity of the human perception.
Matina Vossou is a self-taught artist living in Athens, Greece. She uses acrylics and a toothpick, a technique which she learned by her father, who was a naïve painter. She paints faces like perfectly unfinished mosaics of emotions and ideas. The skin is depicted cracked and like is illuminated from the inside. She believes that every face is a journey and probably looking at them is going to be our longest, most adventurous and knowledgeable trip. Her most recent participations were in Onboards Biennale in Antwerp, Belgium, in Emerging Scene in Dubai, UAE, in Artbox, (Urbanside Gallery in Zurich, Tana Art Place in Venice, Swissartexpo, also in Zurich) and in Expo Metro in the collective artwork, Downtown Los Angeles. She has exhibited her artworks in MADS Gallery in Milan. She has been featured in various art magazines. Except from painting, she also loves writing; her play “The Nothing of People” (a dystopian comedy) was published in Greek in 2018. You can see more of her artwork at: www.instagram.com/matinavossou