#13
Final overview
The statement of a visitor to the exhibition leads us to the opinion stated by Adolph Los, (one of the creators of the modern architectural style without ornaments) in 1908: “Art as a whole is erotic.” He certainly had in mind the primordial creative energies of man and his projection, the drive of compassion, reviving and penetrating, the pursuit of the other self. The erotic essence can be sought for in many ways and in various manifestations and motives, so that a more particular opinion seems also appropriate, namely that “ There is nothing more precious or delicate in the whole of the tender sex, as is the beautiful female behind” (Gilles N. Twentieth-Century Erotic Art, Benedict Taschen, Koln, 1993).
If we take the first opinion as a starting point, we can find many examples of “erotic art”, examples of works where ambivalent or opposed motives meet or touch, with more or less defined features. The second opinion, however, defines closer the erotic aspect, the motive of artistic creation. The interpretation of an artwork implies a personal approach and a meaningful sensibility. Many things have been said and written about the art shape, form and expression, but we know very little about the essence of the creative mechanism. Yet, there is certain evidence. A. F. will write a “praise on the hand” and B. Koneski, remembering the conversation with Dimitar Kondovski on the sketching skills that Nikola Martinoski had, will talk about the “intelligence of the hand”, about the hand as a “special organ”. Eugene Ionesco, the playwright, gives a significant testimony: “When I paint, I have the feeling that my hand creates the work on its own, it is no longer the head, since the hand is closer to my unconscious. The fantasies, the fears and the dreams are forced out faster that way.”
Thus we can have a better understanding of the abstract, associative or figurative eroticism in the works of Petar Mazev, Tomo Šijak, Vasko Taškovski, and others. If we agree, that upon the Macedonian art practice, we can talk about a castrated erotica, then we can determine real or proven erotica in the works of Nikola Martinoski and Vangel Naumovski. Actually, their entire opus of art is interwoven by erotic motives, which developed and transformed in separate stages of their creative periods. Starting from the thirties and especially in the mid-fifties, Nikola Martinoski developed a significant sketching and painting skill in the presentation of his erotic motives. They are made in the typical realistic lyrical expressionism, which involves sadness and joy, tenderness and fury. We follow images of sensual perception of the world when he painted the girls from the bars as well as the love couples carried away with flowers, with the moonshine motive, idyllic, as well as dancing– and sometimes inspired by the ballet choreography. There the joy is replaced by tragic and the painful feelings. The expressionist nerve enabled him to create works with the portrayal of an explicit eroticism, with former inspirations (in the collection of the family Martinoski, in MSU, The Art Gallery and Elpida Pakovska – Prima Ballerina from Skopje). Nikola Martinoski had a certain skill and strength of expression at his disposal, he knew how and wanted to write letters, poetically, drifting and spiritually combining text and painting etc. These moments give the incite to contemplate the relation of biography and art. If in the Middle Ages the name of the artist was unknown, then in the Renaissance his private life and his art were separated. In modern times, we look for the links between the talent of the artist and the secrets of his private life. It is relevant for us to take the opinion that the only biography important to the artist is his life story as an artist, i.e. the development of his ability to transform. To write letters, means, “to undress before the spirits”. A. Prokopiev (in the book “Anti-directions on personal use”) has noted this, as well: “Dedicated, given to the other, the love letter is a self-surrender and a self-purifier.” This is especially true of Vangel Naumovski, who published his love letters and poetry dedicated to women from several towns, in a book under a different name “Van San– the Woman in my orbit”. This gives the best reflection of his poetic soul and his art, where in a pantheist form, there is a lyrical dance and the curves of the female and nature, and the love couples at the lake. His sketches and canvases evoke the presentations of the Garden of Eden, on the eternal creation and the eternal love. Vangel Naumovski has also promoted a personal gallery in his house in Ohrid, which bears the name of his wife Ljubica, who passed away.
It is important to point to two more typical examples. Thus, the sculptor Jovan Grabuloski, only a few years before his death, in 1982-83, created a series of erotic nudes in small plastics. Then, the painter Miloš Kodžoman, apart from the examples of explicit erotica from the beginning of the seventies, has created a series of paintings and sketches on the subject of the erotic in a typical, illustrative, pop art manner.
Kiril Efremov, projected his own obsessive themes in painting and sketch.
Gligor Čemerski, in his later paintings, presents himself as an author with the sensuality of Dionysius and vigorous playfulness.
The application of a crude determinism in any other part of these reviews would not be appropriate, as well as it being non-applicable in the issue of connecting life facts and the aesthetic evidence– the artworks. Yet, we can conclude that in the domain of the contemporary Macedonian art, at least for the present moment, one can only use the term shy eroticism. Ever since 1986 we didn’t have an exhibition of the “Erotica P” type, and the most liberated expression of love and eroticism is found in the life and art and the personality of Vangel Naumovski. We shall not seek for the reasons just now, we must state, however, that in the life of a people with a long history of being conquered, an din the broader societal background there are certain interesting data to be noted. The customs of the Turkish tradition continued to prevail in the period between the two world wars, but certain elements from the local tradition have also survived. The motive of the bar and the girls from the bar will find a place in some works of art. At the same time, some experts and research workers will note various forms of erotic life among the population, all up to instances of sodomy. The influence of politics and intimate life gain new forms in the war period, and also after 1945. The wave of the sexual revolution and popular culture in the world up to the sixties came to our shores as well. Then there followed decades of a deepening crisis within the socialist system of the Yugoslav type. Almost two years after the exhibition “Eroticism…” #14 pornography was offered (in the cinema, on video etc) at free consummation of all ages,(regardless of the fact that the films were rated 18). In the background of apathy and hopelessness the nightlife of the young people developed, and the actors in the TV series K-15 could satirically remark that “young people have sex early nowadays”. The Macedonian television programs also introduced hours of erotic programs and open talk shows on sex, naturally following the western concept of the therapeutic effect of openness. The Macedonian Parliament has even raised the issue of opening brothels. Probably some believe that by consuming “free sex” (in our country made tasteless and without limits) they can reduce not only the psychological, but also the social tensions of the poor, degraded depressed man of our time.