3-8-99
The trend of Hellenism, a trend that evidently owes much to the reaction against Europeanization and globalization, but equally to our domestic complexes, has extended to the realm of artistic production. This Hellenism is expressed in two ways. On one hand, there is the at-all-costs increase in the consumption of domestic art (and entertainment), and on the other, the at-all-costs incorporation of Greek elements into artistic products. A concurrent trend engages in athletic-type comparisons of Greek art with foreign art, which is generally regarded as a rival force or the standard of comparison.
Treating art as a national product contradicts its most essential and promising dimension, the one that represents awareness and achievement of our century, which is its global and timeless scope. Great artists belong to everyone. What distinguishes the products of art is the degree of emotion they evoke and the quality of the language they use.
Print media and analysts rejoice because the youth have turned to Greek music and contemporary Greek literature, or because Greek movies have started to sell tickets again. However, I cannot understand why we should rejoice if the youth consume Greek musical sub-products, as these are offered (or imposed) to them, and not regret that they do not adopt a possibly higher quality music, even if it is of foreign origin. If we abandoned the Beatles and Dylan for domestic light pop, it is hardly a cause for joy and national pride.
The mandate that an artist must express through thematic and morphological elements that refer to their national identity neglects the fact that the creator, as a multifaceted and complex personality, is the reason for the work's existence (and not their homeland). Even more, it disdains this complex personality, which need not be treated with proportions of national influences. The national roots of the work will become apparent if they hold a significant part of the creator's intellectual world, without the creator needing to pursue this, yet they will remain discreetly present as one of many elements of the abstract structure that constitutes the artistic product.
The international trend for artistic exchanges favors such national character emphases because it makes artistic products more easily identifiable for promotion. However, this should be an additional reason for resistance from artists and art lovers, who know that each of us carries within the artists we have chosen, and their identity is part of our own. And this is regardless of nationality. Art must be showcased as the quintessential space for the flourishing of individuality and the personal dialogue between creator and recipient.
Plato Rivellis