Art of Mark Hadzipateras celebrates multicultural world
Sometimes serious matters are better addressed through children’s stories, fables or fairy tales than with more researched, intellectual analysis. Behind the often unreal plots, simple narratives and naivete, there usually lies a certain wisdom, a distillation of knowledge and layers of meaning. The wonderful thing about fairy tales and myths is that they put across all of this without force, in a way that carries an emotional impact that, even when the story has a sad ending, maintains a positive outlook on life. This is more or less the effect that the work of artist Mark Hadzipateras has on the viewer. It takes a playful, happy and optimistic view yet addresses the complex issues of contemporary life, contains layers of meaning and invites different interpretations. In the large, black-and-white charcoal drawings that were presented in «No Visa» – the title of the artist’s recent one-man show at the a.antonopoulou.art gallery – a host of hybrid, cartoon-like characters made up the artist’s visual, fictional metaphor for our multicultural, multiethnic world. Meant as «travelers» across time and different civilizations, these creatures are about the things that connect us and our true identities that set us apart. Resembling machines, forms taken out of nature but anthropomorphic figures all in one, Hadzipateras’s fictional creatures point to a world that is connected, a world made by the merging of different, seemingly contrasting elements. Yet each figure retains its own individual character and, as their clothing suggests, originates from a different cultural background. Among his multiethnic population, one finds the Greek tsolias; an Indian prince; «Mr Zen,» which is what the artist has named an oriental-looking figure; a character that makes reference to the Ottoman Empire or the Islamic world and an African tribesman. The pleasant, joyful impression that the works leave on the viewer predisposes the viewer to read the exhibition as a celebration of multiculturalism. Although Hadzipateras probably intends it, he also plays with ambiguity. «No Visa» suggests both acceptance (as in «there is no need for visa») and exclusion (as in «no entry»). It is both an affirmation of the opening of borders and the peaceful coexistence of people from different cultural backgrounds as well as a reminder of racism and exclusion. The title also alludes to another facet of our globalized world: that of consumerism, («Visa» as in the credit card) perhaps even the consumption of art. But more than just raise current issues, the work of Hadzipateras places them in a historical context. By drawing figures that make reference to past civilizations, he suggests that the world has always been connected and that cultural crossovers are as old as the birth of civilization. This is a truth that puts contemporary reality into perspective and provides a broader context than the here and now. The search for connectedness has been a constant theme in the work of Hadzipateras. He draws on his experiences of living for years in New York to paint a picture of a multicultural world, a world made up of cultural differences that coexist as a whole. (Hadzipateras was commissioned to make a work for the 28th Street subway station in Manhattan. The mosaics he designed for the station depicted figures from different civilizations). Just as with cultures, Hadzipateras also looks for relationships and crossovers in other aspects of life. He connects nature to technology and mass culture to high art. In his open-air installation «Brussels,» from the early ’90s, for example, Hadzipateras constructed a large geometric grid that he placed on the ground and filled with forms that resembled natural shapes but also recalled technological constructions (spaceships) or totemic sculpture. In works that followed, Hadzipateras transformed everyday, utilitarian objects (such as egg crates or children’s toys) into sculptures that, again, looked like natural shapes or architectural constructions. By taking an object out of its context and transforming it into something else, Hadzipateras plays with ambiguity and suggests that one thing contains another and that all things together are connected. Hadzipateras’s work prompts the viewer to take a positive outlook on life, to respect and accept that which is different and to look beyond our personal, closed-in worlds. It is a great challenge posed through an art that is playful and most pleasing to look at.
