Marija Tanaskovic Papadopoulos
Artists statement
Visual Art is all about passing energy to other people through the symbols and vibration of lines, color wavelengths, and shapes of artwork in the space that surrounds it, while the meaning of the artwork is not only what composition actually presents, but a specific structure of that art piece, that makes a human being able to notice a beauty as a source of harmony. .
— Marija Tanaskovic Papadopoulos
Biography
Marija was born in Belgrade / Serbia in 1976 where she graduated from the University of Fine Arts in 2001 as a Sculptor. Since 2004 she lives in Chicago with her husband. In the beginning, she was working as a fine artist in traditional painting and sculpturing techniques primarily. However, during her creative journey, she started making artwork with modern technologies, also. Today she is a multimedia artist of a very wide spectrum. In addition to traditional fine art techniques, she is skilled with Adobe Creative Suite Programs, Unreal engine, Z Brush, and Substance.
Her Fine art forms are found in imagination, and they reveal themselves in a peaceful balance of shapes and colors in many different techniques this artist is practicing.
While she is sculpting in clay she can also work in ZBrush for computer 3D modeling. The same is with painting. While she is creating traditional oil on canvas, acrylics, pastels, and watercolors, she is capable of making 2D graphics with the same quality of color vibrancy and composition. The same is with Digital photography that she often combines with her digital art. Regardless of technique, she uses her creations are always vibrant and captivating. She was looking for a perfect exhibition space to put all her art in retrospectives, so she created the 3D exhibition gallery in Unreal Engine which she will update as she creates new pieces.
Tanaskovic obtained the highest recognition and many very important awards for her art from the world of renewed critics and curators all over the world: They are in Italy, France, UK, Monaco, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Egypt, Turkey, India, Serbia, and Latino America: Columbia, Argentina... The international critics placed her among the Best Contemporary Artists of today in many important books and publications.
What’s your background?
I am a professional Fine Artist with a BFA in Sculpting. I graduated from University of fine arts in Belgrade/Serbia with very high grades in 2001. The education program lasted for five consecutive years, and it was differently called Fine Art Academy. The program approach was very similar to the traditional academy of art in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It included a lot of ‘hands-on projects related to drawing studies, sculpting models in clay: portraits and whole figures, painting, and creating art work with different materials like metal, and marble. In addition to traditional, there were also opportunities to learn about alternative modern techniques from professors and colleagues. It also included exams in History of Art, Philosophy, and Psychology, which were attended in the classroom, not in the studio like other classes.
Soon after I moved to the USA I obtained the College of DuPage Graphic Arts degree where I learned about graphic and web design programs that opened a door towards digitalization of my job as an artist. I would be using the website I created myself for the presentation of digital images made for my future marketing efforts.
Until then my only advertisement was a word of mouth. Much later when I already became known through internet searches I realized that it is possible to divert even more traffic to my site by publishing more artistic content which was a great incentive to create even more art for my viewers. My interest in digital marketing came later when I realized that my website and my social media page are my digital Marketing tools. Today I am an artist who uses her online gallery to sell my art among other things.
What does it mean to you to win the Collectors Art Prize?
To me this is proof that I am taken seriously as a professional by art lovers in the world and art professionals and organizations. It is proof that my art is an object of value for them, that will become even more valuable and present in cultural life.
What do you think is the role of art in the world today?
The role of art is to make this world a better place. Therefore, Art took the platform in the audience’s psyche as the universal communication that moves and inspires. The role of art is to make a bridge to solutions that are within the human soul, by making peace with inner conflicts and at the same time acting as a reminder and a provoker of constructive thoughts. The uplifting that art gives is an elegant shift or direction that reveals that balance is what · we need in everything, to make it successful, no matter if is family life, economy, education …
What would it be if you could change one thing about the art world?
I would make artists accountable for the thoughts they provoke with their art. Because thoughts are the building blocks of our lives. Creating an art piece is indeed a catharsis and it gives great pleasure to the one that creates an art piece because it liberates the artist from the burden by giving him a chance to sublime life problems into his work and to communicate with the viewers (audience) on a higher level. However, Art should not be used to take on people with anger and insults but on the system that needs to serve those people, not vice-versa.
What are your most significant professional achievements?
My most important professional achievement is the recognition of international critics that came first. Right after that, my dearest achievement was the huge number of visitors to my website that showed genuine interest in my art. This is the free traffic that moved algorithms of google to spontaneously place me higher on the web on general key terms, discovering my relevancy as an artist, that way. This was a very big pleasant surprise to me that told me a lot about my position as a professional in this world. This change came during lockdowns when everybody was turned to the internet. Art was the window and the door to wonders.
What do you wish to tell viewers about your work that might not come out explicitly? What do you hope to inspire with your artwork?
I hope to inspire real change, which is the one that comes from within an individual’s inner world. Art is that communication whose purpose is to make the audience understand and influence the surroundings through their own reflections on some art piece. My Art exists to reveal the hidden strength of her observers, not the hidden parts of their psyche. Her meaning is a synonym for healing through freedom of thought. My art is about reflecting the world, which reflects itself on it. Because Everything is relative. The only thing that counts in life is to understand illusion as a curtain everybody has on the windows of their soul. There is no exception. Moving the curtain and having this moment of revelation and understanding that truth is everywhere. This is what my art needs to give not through the obvious in the composition but through the symbols that are created by observing the composition.
What advice would you give to the upcoming generation of artists?
Create art in order to expel anything negative from yourself, and during this process, you will complete the artwork that will reflect you and your intention to anybody who sees it. Trust your talent when you feel something while observing your own work. Count yourself into observers of your works, as well, as others. Because your real power is those that will pay attention (observe, listen, read) to your art. There is no magic there, just love.
In what direction would you like to see your career go in the next five years?
My carrier will go towards exploring composition. I will do it in many different ways. Basically, I will be Placing new Art elements that appear beautiful in a space we otherwise never even notice or places that you would never even visit. The elements are digital 2D and 3D graphics, sculpture, photography, painting or a drawing, novel, story, or presentation that will be finalized as a composition that will make you feel different. It will have the role to move you and provoke your thoughts, which would complete the puzzle of what is missing in your space or maybe in your life. The idea is to create what is missing by building your vibe while exposing yourself to art. The matching piece will be just a thought, a vibration that matches the vibration of viewed composition. The full circle is completed when the observer feels it is complete. In this game, there are no other rules except be inspired or have a new idea.
Another part of my work in the future will definitely be my new blog which will share parallels between science and art by endorsing the of observer of art (the mind that loves and is exposing it self to art) as that force that moves the world from the dead spot. There you can expect many videos and scientific articles that will follow what is that moves you in art.
Country USA / Serbia
Website https://www.marijaart.com/
