In the arms of Bacchante
"The true is thus the Bacchanalian frenzy in which no member is sober, and since each member immediately dissolves as soon as it breaks away, the frenzy is also transparent and simple repose."
Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit
In Greek mythology, the Bacchantes were passionate, frenzied women, participants in Bacchanalia. They were also called Maenads, priestesses of the god Dionysus or Bacchus. The Dionysian mysteries represented one way of knowing the world—ecstatic: through unrestrained fun and wild dances in the mountains. The embrace of a shameless savage from an ancient mystery promised a direct experience of mystical ecstasy bordering on madness.
The fierce dance plunged one into the unconscious "Dionysian" element, bringing them into ecstasy and taking them beyond their own self.
In the works of the new series, the Bacchic Mystery is depicted in the images of merged sensual bodies that cannot be identified, as individuation is impossible in a mad fusion. This peculiar mixture triggers the pure, unformed, and restless beginning that slumbers in the depths of the human soul.
A direct, immediate outlet of the unconscious, that part of it which is hidden and repressed under the onslaught of civilization and culture. Sexuality in the form of unbridled Eros and the desire to devour the other. The Bacchante calls to dance, and in a mad embrace, in a burst of passion, wants to destroy, thus giving freedom.
The image of the Bacchante's body is represented as a flowing substance, a stream of water. It shows the viewer a malleable but powerful movement towards pleasure. The body-river is also a metaphor for the flow of thoughts and imagination, having no beginning and flowing into each other, forming bizarre shapes. It is a metaphor for the flow of human life—a river, the bed of which has its own unique pattern. The water element rushes towards the ocean to eventually dissolve into it.
In some works, pearl-like round objects form the compositional dominant. Their abstract character comes into sharp contrast with the general stylistics of the image. As if falling out of what is happening on the canvas, they demonstrate the unbearable excess of the Bacchic dance. The pearls are a symbol of achieving ecstasy, a jewel bearing knowledge, acquired but inaccessible.
The ornamentation on the works, in the form of flames resembling tongues of fire, like a veil covering the surfaces of the paintings, indicates the passionate nature of the dance—a fire that sizzles or revives to life.
The fierce dance plunged one into the unconscious "Dionysian" element, bringing them into ecstasy and taking them beyond their own self.
In the works of the new series, the Bacchic Mystery is depicted in the images of merged sensual bodies that cannot be identified, as individuation is impossible in a mad fusion. This peculiar mixture triggers the pure, unformed, and restless beginning that slumbers in the depths of the human soul.
A direct, immediate outlet of the unconscious, that part of it which is hidden and repressed under the onslaught of civilization and culture. Sexuality in the form of unbridled Eros and the desire to devour the other. The Bacchante calls to dance, and in a mad embrace, in a burst of passion, wants to destroy, thus giving freedom.
The image of the Bacchante's body is represented as a flowing substance, a stream of water. It shows the viewer a malleable but powerful movement towards pleasure. The body-river is also a metaphor for the flow of thoughts and imagination, having no beginning and flowing into each other, forming bizarre shapes. It is a metaphor for the flow of human life—a river, the bed of which has its own unique pattern. The water element rushes towards the ocean to eventually dissolve into it.
In some works, pearl-like round objects form the compositional dominant. Their abstract character comes into sharp contrast with the general stylistics of the image. As if falling out of what is happening on the canvas, they demonstrate the unbearable excess of the Bacchic dance. The pearls are a symbol of achieving ecstasy, a jewel bearing knowledge, acquired but inaccessible.
The ornamentation on the works, in the form of flames resembling tongues of fire, like a veil covering the surfaces of the paintings, indicates the passionate nature of the dance—a fire that sizzles or revives to life.