Tatyana Todorova: Painting Gives Meaning To My Existence
Acquaintance with Tatyana Todorova has made a special impression on me, meeting not only an artist, but also a woman. In this individual everything is extraordinary: her life journey, her resilience to adversities, her inner strength, a special sincerity and freedom of this sincerity, and, of course, creativity.
Today, Tatyana is a successful artist. Her paintings cannot be confused with any other, her talent is recognized at home and far beyond the borders of our country and her works are in demand by people who appreciate beauty. Tatiana’ path to recognition was not just a long and complex one – it was a really hard path of awareness (remember the Lion Feuchtwanger).
– Tatiana, you were involved in music for many years and then suddenly you left the piano for the easel and brushes. How did this happen?
– The transition from music to painting was totally a mysterious one. I played on the piano since I was five years old. Of course, my parents decided to send me to the music school, for which I am very grateful to them.
I graduated from the College of Music, but did not enroll at the Conservatory. By then I already felt that I do not want all my life to deal with music alone. I had a clear inner awareness of the fact that this does not make sense. To occupy myself with something, I began teaching at a school. This did not bring any satisfaction. I tried to learn French, engage in journalism …
– Couldn’t you find yourself?
– I was looking for the occupation that I could consider it mine. One day I took the dyes of my son and began painting. At first, all my pictures were dedicated to music. Under my brushes, and independent of my will, came out colors and lines, leaving me just wondering about fate.
Each additional work brought me to a state of euphoria, then to a joyful astonishment and answers to all internal questions: why do I love, why do some things oppress me … So painting helped me to calm myself down, to finally make my own existence meaningful. However, the real trial was yet to come.
The loss of a loved one separated my life into “before” and “after.” In “after” life I chose the path of a free artist, a load suited for strong people, since this freedom comes with a price, which must be paid for dearly. What was I to do? Leave the most important and return back to teaching? The work that I am engaged in is not intended to coexist with other activities since painting is a total departure from reality.
In this difficult period of my life I was left with the only option … to create. Through my paintings I found shelter from harshness and destruction. Having passed all the trials of life, now I can call myself a complete individual, I feel the potential which I can share with the surrounding world.
– Your art is often referred to as “bio-energetic”. Do you agree with this definition?
– This is how scientist, astrologer Felix Kazimirovich Velichko called my paintings in 1993, a man who really supported and helped me in life. But if you talk about my art, I personally feel closer to the concept of “introspective” painting, that is, the shades of the inner world.
– How do you manage to see this all and move it onto paper?
– I feel that I can move consciousness to any point in space. As an experiment this is very interesting. But sometimes it also is dangerous, because I live someone else’s life while losing all senses of reality.
– Along your creative years, you probably have tried different techniques, experimenting with the color palette, using a variety of materials …
– Over the years I have tried a lot of creative materials and techniques. Now I prefer to paint with pastel on cardboard. Today this is closer to me. In the future, who knows, I maybe go back to oil.
The first period of my creativity life I generally call the “electrical assemblies”, open color in all its might. I did not mix the colors – red as red, yellow as yellow, “Fauvism” in one word (fauvism, from the French «les fauves» – «Wild» – this trend in French art of the early 20th century was characterized by bright colors and simplification of forms-auth).
– What is the principle you follow in life and in work?
– I am an artist who wants to answer the core questions of humanity: why are we born and why do we die, why do we suffer, where to go, what to strive for, how to achieve harmony in own self without disrupting the surrounding harmony, what place do one occupy in the evolution of the universe …
I always regarded maintaining honesty as the most important thing, and I have never betrayed my belief. Being honest with yourself is not only important for the artist, but for every individual.
Ekatherina Pogodina
All Moldova
http://www.allfun.md/index.php?page=projects&id=1220551281&sid=1220551281&pid=756