In this new exhibition, Greek artist Eva Fakatselis explores fire as a force of transformation
and memory. Through large-scale gestural paintings and sculptures crafted from resin, wood,
ash, ink, and iron, Fakatselis evokes the sensorial experience of fire and its cyclical nature; an
element of destruction and rebirth. Charred remnants collected from Guanacaste’s forest fires,
hearths, and bonfires serve as medium and message, confronting the viewer with the beauty
and inevitability of change.
Interview by Jane Nixon with artist Eva Fakatselis
JANE NIXON: What is it about fire that made you focus this series on it?
EVA FAKATSELIS: For the past two years, I’ve been producing watercolors and small painting studies of the color and the energetic gesture of flames, photographing bonfires, hearth fires, charred material, as well as collecting burnt pieces of wood and ashes from Greece and Costa Rica. When beginning to shape a focus for a new body of work, I rely heavily on instinct and observe what I am naturally drawn to repeatedly paint, collect and pin-up over a prolonged period of time. Often, I am magnetized to subjects for a reason that I don’t quite understand at the onset and it is in the process of developing the work that this reason reveals itself. The symbolic and allegorical meaning of my work is of great importance, and fire, with its rich mythology and its dual nature, both a force of lightness and darkness, both grand and quotidian, began to reveal its personal significance to me as the work progressed.
JN: How does color permeate this series?
EF: Color plays an important role in my practice and is a source of great inspiration, especially in the context of living and working in Costa Rica, where the natural world appears even more vibrant. Thinking about conveying the play of light and shadow as well as the intangible feeling that a fire can evoke, I began to explore a series of large gestural abstract paintings. These immerse the viewer in fiery colors, sulfuric yellows and smokey purples and blues. Particularly, I focused on the dissolution of form into color as a metaphor for the dissolution of the idea of “self” in fire and the transformation that this elicits. I have been especially drawn to working with black and also yellow as a contrast, reflecting the duality that the work evokes; absence and presence of light, destruction and new life, fear and faith, loss and hope.
JN: What is your relationship to using traditional (canvas, paper, etc) vs nontraditional (resin, wood, etc) materials in your work?
EF: Material exploration is almost as essential to me as meaning, and once my vision went beyond the idea of fire as simply subject to fire and burnt wood as a medium, the multi-dimensionality of the show as paintings and sculptures began to reveal itself. I approach the process of my work like a documentarian, as detached to outcome as possible, and trusting that through the process of investigation, the story will reveal itself. I find that expanding the palette of materials I engage with during this investigation can lead to new discoveries, and more directly connect my actions to my instinct and intuition, bypassing the overthinking mind. This in turn iterates back to the more traditional material work on canvas and paper and creates a body of work that can express a subject ain multiple voices, especially when all the works are seen in concert.
JN: How do these works relate to Costa Rica or other places that you’ve traveled to while making or thinking about this series?
EF: So much of my work is tied to place, whether that is where I am making the work, or aspects of my identity that I am working through and place as it relates to where I come from. The site of my alchemic transformation after cancer treatment was Nosara and so much about the natural environment here contributed to my ability to move forward and re-build a new version of myself. By suspending pieces of trees that have undergone transformation from wood to charcoal, whether intentionally as part of a home hearth or bonfire, or unintentionally from a forest fire, is testament to my personal journey. The very first fire votive I made was with charcoal collected from Greece, where I am originally from. I imagine these votives as not only altars to change but also to place and nostalgia.
JN: You also use the word repeat in the title, but so much of your work is also about freedom and experimentation and breaking from repetitive molds. How would you define repeat in relation to your practice?
EF: The repetition I allude to in the title speaks to the cyclical nature of loss, change, regrowth and the opportunity for transformation we are given with each new cycle. I want to normalize that there aren’t only one or two big inflection points for transformation in our lives, rather it is a constant flow of big and small shifts and it is inevitable. Ultimately in my own practice, the same applies. With every new body of work, it is the opportunity to change and evolve and part of that is letting go of previous ways of doing things, or attachments that may no longer serve. I think there is freedom in accepting that this is the way of life and instead of fearing or fighting it, we can confront and embrace it.
JN: Your choice of displaying the resin works as both freestanding sculptures and wall reliefs is so interesting. What are the advantages of showing how these works can be installed? Or better yet how they can be viewed?
EF: The relationship of the sculptures to light, whether the piece is more translucent or obscures the penetration of light, is significant. They are activated by ambient natural or artificial light and this impacts the way the work is experienced. As a result, when displayed as freestanding eye-level sculptures, the viewer can walk around the works and light is easily allowed to permeate. Alternatively, these sculptures can be mounted as wall reliefs, again at eye-level as so much about this work is about confronting and embracing, and spaced away from the wall enough so as to allow light to still find its way through and activate the work.
