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À la vue des tableaux de Dina Podolsky, il me vient à l'esprit une curieuse analogie avec le film Blade Runner, réalisé par Ridley Scott en 1982. Ce n'est pas tant la facture des oeuvres de Podolsky, ni même leur esthétisme, qui fonde la comparaison, mais le propos : la quête d'identité, la volonté de trouver et de sauvegarder la trace filiale qui, de génération en génération, a fait de nous ce que nous sommes aujourd'hui Cette dimension identitaire recèle une complexité vertigineuse, car elle nous renvoie à tous les aspects qui nous façonnent comme individus, à nos choix qui, la vie durant, nous dirigent dans une voie plutôt qu'une autre, construisant notre singularité, notre unicité. La peinture de Dina Podolsky évoque ces moments privilégiés quand nous prenons le temps de remonter. le temps.
In the Studio, techniques mixtes sur papier, 71 x 94 cm
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C'est un peu comme un grenier intérieur où seraient entreposés des objets de notre enfance et ceux des êtres chers, nos parents, grands-parents, arrière- grands-parents... Sa peinture nous guide dans un espace temporel curieux par les vagues de réminiscences qui nous frappent sur tous les fronts, laissant émerger la nostalgie, la tristesse ou simple- ment le bonheur, mais un bonheur captif, conditionnel, qui nous plonge dans la définition de la présence être et ne plus être. Pourtant, rien n'est vraiment triste dans la peinture de Dina Podolsky, car l'artiste emprunte la voie de l'anecdote iconographique. Elle raconte l'histoire d'objets ayant appartenu à une autre époque, des objets évocateurs de la vie quotidienne. Cette manière d'aborder la mémoire confère à son langage une
dimension populaire dans le sens que ce qui est suggéré est reconnaissable de tous, accessible, une symbolique du peuple, en quelque sorte. Cependant, ce peuple est d'abord celui de son enfance, alors qu'elle vivait en Russie. Elle greffe d'ailleurs à presque tous ses tableaux des écrits en langue slave, remémoration de la culture qui coule dans ses veines et qui l'animera jusqu'à son dernier souffle. Bien que la source de son inspiration réside dans une culture différente de la nôtre, la magie opère. Plusieurs amateurs et collectionneurs se retrouvent dans sa peinture, en raison de liés au quotidien, qui y sont traités. Dina Podolsky n'a pas besoin de recourir à la complexité pour s’exprimer. Souvent, l’espace pictural ne contient qu'un ou quelques objets
Milk Jars, techniques mixtes sur papier, 58 x 120 cm
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bouteilles, chapeaux, poupées, seaux, disposés sur la surface en respectant la nature intrinsèque de celui-ci ; s'il s'agit d'une bouteille, par exemple, l'artiste « assoit » l'objet comme s'il était posé sur une table, laquelle n'est d'ailleurs pas représentée on la devine. Si c'est un chapeau, il flotte sur la surface Sa manière de modeler la matière est l'un des aspects les plus intéressants de son travail. Tactile, notre rapport avec son œuvre est grandement amplifié par les textures qui morcèlent la surface du tableau Cette facture singulière vient appuyer la notion temporelle, car elle a comme effet de vieillir par ses craquelures et écailles simulées, tout en conférant à l'ensemble une dimension sensible. L'artiste trace autour du sujet un cadre qui renforce la puissance de l'objet représenté et qui, lui aussi, nous fait basculer dans une autre époque, dans un espace-temps tampon perdu entre le passé et le présent Les œuvres de Dina Podolsky font partie des inclassables. Pas vraiment réalistes, ni naïves, ne se réclamant pas franchement de l'art populaire sans pour autant s'en dissocier complètement, elles sont en somme tout cela à la fois. Un fait est indéniable cependant son univers, tout personnel qu’il soit, rejoint de multiples façons la nature humaine dans son ensemble . .
Charcoal Iron, techniques mixtes sur toile, 61 x 122 cm
Two Bottles. techniques mixtes sur papier, 71 x 56 cm
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Humbleness runs in the Podolsky family. Perhaps it's a good thing, for great talent without self-awareness can easily be tarnished by hubris. And maybe it’s too bad, for we may have had the pleasure of seeing art of the highest calibre, had Lev Podolsky not decided he was "a dinosaur" in the world of contemporary art, withdrawing - together with his unique talent-into the shadows. Fortunately for this timid painter, and for the viewing public, his daughter continues to paint and exhibit, carrying on the family tradition with profound determination.
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Pogony Street, N32, mixed media on canvas 61 x 51 cm
senses, the aroma and texture of her childhood made tangible with the first brush stroke.) But Blue Bedspread differs significantly from the rest of her latest production in its clear reference to her father's work, as well as in its particularly painterly execution. The bed at the center of the composition is almost invisible under the weight of an enormous, bulging blue bedspread with a white, lacy bib, strangely delicate next to the small, rigid pillow. Although flattened by Dina's signature layers of paint mixed with other materials the bedspread seems to rise, like some colourful dough, invisibly stretching into the pale unspecified background whose palette echoes Lev Podolsky s subdued tones. "It's his mostly. Dina Podolsky says of her work. "I want to keep it alive. Finish his story for him. It's his past even more than mine. And she goes further: "I would like to only put one name (Podolsky)". .
An accomplished artist in her own right, Dina Podolsky gives all the credit to her father, the one great influence in her life, her inspiration and strength. And yet, there is no denying that the daughter, while following in her father's footsteps, has inadvertently released her own creative voice, producing art of a very different calibre In one of her latest works, Blue Bedspread, she picks up the theme first elaborated by her father in his magnificent Lace Blanket. But while Lev Podolsky's deceptively understated painting demanded closer inspection verging on visual meditation, Dina's mixed media work presents the viewer with a different mosaic. Hers is an exploration of colour and texture, as much as a yearning for the past and the unique feel of the tapestry of memories that seems wrapped around this artist like a security blanket. (She admits, that when she begins to paint, the past becomes the present, engaging all her
Blue Kettle, mixed media on canvas, 76 x 102 cm
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Even if she did, the viewer would have not problem telling the daughter from the father. Dina's work is stamped with her unique sensitivity and artistic touch. Enamoured of colour, she produces heavily textured canvases, in which the images form static compositions on the verge of coming to life. almost detaching from the consistently abstracted background. In her latest works she continues the theme of the Moscow Diary, once again reaching into the past for images only temporarily forgotten. Some are repeat visitors, like the dainty, laced up boots and flowery hats [Dunia s Booties and My Grandmother's Hats, or the corroded kettle Rusty Kettle] but others are making their appearance for the first time. In a series of three small canvases, Dina concentrates on antique locks and door handles. Having already painted a splendid door (the work has long ago sold to a collector in the United States, she focuses this time on its central point, bringing the viewer
closer to unlocking as it were, the mystery behind it. At its heart lies a childhood memory of the busy Moscow tenement in which the Podolsky family lived before emigrating. land “where all the stories come from," says Dina.) She would wander the corridors, peeking into the different apartments, soaking in the atmosphere permeated with the scent of home cooking and the din of many voices. The locks, each executed in a different colour scheme, from ochre and red to turquoise blue, exhibit their own peculiarities, rusty nails and tarnished surfaces, while at the same time forming a tight, dense composition. As in most of Dina's works, she incorporates writing into the image. in Cyrillic, which enriches the overall texture of the painting while adding an intellectual component to its interpretation. In a diptych composed of two antique irons, the artist distorts the usually symmetrical composition,
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Vintage Bottles,, mixed media on canvas, 102 x 127 cm
unbalancing it by presenting two differently sized objects placed on the same level but separated by a dark line splitting the image. She returns to symmetry in a painting of three. dust encrusted bottles, with old labels covered with fading writing. Turquoise blue, they line the canvas like statues, sentinels from the past, guardians of memory. One is again taken by Dina's mastery of the rich technique she applies to all her paintings, and her overwhelming love of colour which is at the core of her compositions. But without having to go into the workings of the mechanism behind a work of art. Dina s paintings are pure visual pleasure. Each is a story wrapped in layers of paint, there for everyone to unwrap and enjoy. And don't do it in haste either, for her works have to be savoured stroke by stroke, image by image.
In The Red Chest she invites the viewer into the familiar realm of childhood memories, attics with cobwebs, and old chests filled long-discarded objects. Spilling, peeking out of the open dented coffer is a hat, a folded umbrella, a doll's corset, some tulle, and propped against it are the laced-up grandma's booties from another painting, leaning precariously as if made of porcelain.
Dina Podolsky is a story-teller as much as a painter. If you look and listen long enough to her works, you will pick up the echo of many footsteps on wooden stairs and the sing-song of the Russian language as she takes us on a journey into a world that now only exists in her memory.
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Cooper Kotelok, mixed media on canvas, 61 x 92 cm
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