Title: Hypocrisy
Artist: Viktoria Petyova Ilinova
Country: Bulgaria
Viktoria Petyova Ilinova obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Academy of Music, Dance and Visual Arts “Prof. Asen Diamandiev” in Plovdiv, and then continued her studies by completing the Master of Arts program at the same university.
Artist’s Vision:
Art is an invariable part of people’s life. It is our “engine” and “food” for the soul. It hovers all around us and if you are sensitive enough – you cannot miss it.
Just as in cinema and theater, certain roles are played out so in real life, according to our surroundings, we enter into different roles, burdened by life and traumas and alienated from our essence.
The painting depicts a figure, depersonalized and immersed in the dark range of cold colors such as blue and purple, surrounded by numerous masks which the person built given images, concealing his essence, using them as a tool – in order to adapt to the environment, according to the moment and the surrounded situations. They become an invariable part of the figure and are accordingly immersed in the same range of colors.
The closet, where from the masks are taken out, represents the domestic conditions, where the person is alone, only by himself – choosing which role to play next, creating a different reality, in conflict with who the person actually is and what she/he really wants to be, in order to protect himself from vulnerability.
The meaning of the many masks is that after playing so many roles it is difficult to find and recognise your own true face.
To preserve the paint and extend the lifespan of the painting, I applied a final varnish over a matte base for oil paints. The varnish I used is called ‘Artists’ Matt Varnish,’ which is in addition to the materials I used.
In this work, the artist reflects on the dangerously hypnotic nature of filmmaking. Storytelling on the screen invites the audience to imagine themselves into another world and into another person’s predicament. It also asks the viewer to contemplate the unplumbed depths of their own personalities. “Could I cross a desert to reunite with my beloved? Could I lie with ingenuity in order to pass through danger undetected by my enemies? Could I commit myself to my goals with dedication and transcend all the difficulties that threaten to overwhelm me?”
Such soul-searching can be done safely in the trance induced by the silver screen but this work warns of its narcissistic temptations. In this work, the androgynous human figure is situated in a bleak and featureless setting which has no features or warmth. Warmth emanates only from the suitcase which contains all the masks or personalities that the person can try on. We meet this figure already having discarded a number of masks )some of which fall in pairs to echo the tragic/comic masks of classical drama.
Although there are more masks yet to be essayed, the desultory pose of the figure holds out little hope that they will find happiness or even fleeting pleasure in any of these. This work does not offer a solution but only a warning that the trying on of masks, seductive as it is, will not bring fulfillment. – Mary Kate O’Flanagan, curator