Address at Velestovo Poetry Night Event, 2004

I want to very briefly speak about the relationship between poetry and painting, more specifically about the relationship between the poetry of our distinguished Macedonian writer, Mihail Rendzov, and what I am trying to create.
Every time when I think of poetry in all of its forms and meanings, I know deep down inside that it is art, old and new, as humanity is both old and new. This miraculous game of words expresses feelings. Or, said in other words, it is constant search for inner man. There are no written laws and regulations on poetry. Its mysteriousness can equally be measured against the one of music, painting, literature as a whole, sculpture and architecture. Painting contains within poetry, in all fundamental, ontological elements of its structure. It means, in its composition, color, drawing, space and in the sound of the chromatic sign. Panting too is a game – a wonderful game, but as poetry, it also recognizes only the laws of the creative being and its biggest ideal: freedom of expression. One, only and unique. As poetry, painting too seeks for the inner man who lives in all of us, without an exception. Thus, poetry and painting recreate art through a game which is strongly and very seriously allowed by the personality of the creator. To make a poem one first of all needs a talent and honesty rather than some academic skills, — said Borhes once. This also refers to painting. If there is no talent and honesty in the poem and painting, then there is neither poem nor a painting. Poetry is a real faith and magic. Writing a poem is a religious and magical act with the participation of the spirit and fantasy of the reader and its creator. Painting is at the same level. It is not on the canvas, but in the magical interspace made by the creator, and determined by the viewer and his spirit. Poetry can not be chosen and it can not be a profession. Nor can painting be a profession or choice.
These are the fundamental ties between the living lyrical expression in the poetry of the contemporary Macedonian poet Mihail Rendzov and the painting that I create. Thanks to those esthetic determinants and meanings, some of my paintings came out of Rendzov’s poetry and some of his poems came out of my paintings. Unfortunately, the time that we live in and the completely devastated system of long human values can not really separate and assess the living signs of the creative act that is only potent in resurrecting and transforming all of our darkness. Only through it we reach to our inner light, and only with it we can warm the world. The loneliness in which the so-called modern man is lost is deeper and deeper and the absurdity that he faces in all areas of his living these days eats up the very core of his being. He is simply forced to glorify the prophet as a value and freedom. Today, the path to his Golgotha is as dramatic and bloody as the one of the Nazareth master. To the cross and on it. But is there a hope for resurrection? The darkness seems to become deeper and thicker, as if there is no dawn ahead. Who knows? Maybe only the creator is in a constant battle with this world’s night. He still believes in his divine abilities to create beautify that would defend human internal and external light. I believe that you too will experience this night, dedicated to the poetry of the contemporary Macedonian writer, Mihail Rendzov, accompanied by part of my work, as a small but very significant contribution in the victory over the Hades that constantly threatens to swallow us.