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Tίτλος: ΟΥΡΑΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΓΗ της Μαρίας Κολοβού Ρουμελιώτη Μικτή Τεχνική Διάσταση: 90cm X 110cm.) |
Κριτική για τη Ζωγραφική και την Ποίηση της Μαρίας Κολοβού Ρουμελιώτη Από τον Rizal Tanjung
Review of Maria Kolovou Roumelioti’s Painting and Poetry,By Rizal Tanjung
There is something primordial in Maria Kolovou Roumelioti’s painting Uranus and Earth. A body like a cosmic silhouette, layered with sea foam and seeping light, stands between circular orbs—planet, moon, or perhaps the womb of the universe—splitting itself into dualities: earth and sky, flesh and spirit, the mortal and the eternal. It is not merely a painting; it is a myth crystallized upon canvas, a visual poem that resurrects the ancient Greek memory of the world’s birth from chaos.
Within it, one seems to glimpse a figure half-human, half-archaic. Its form is sculpted from rippling waves, as though born of the same sea foam from which Aphrodite emerged. Yet it is also circled by the orbit of the cosmos, recalling Uranus—the sky that embraces the earth—where passion and the conflict of power gave rise to all Greek cosmological tragedy.
The current that flows through this work might be read as Cosmic Neo-Symbolism—a path now traveled by many contemporary painters who reject the confines of realism, choosing instead the symbolic language to express the spiritual crises of our age. Within the tides of contemporary art, particularly in the postmodern aftermath marked by a return to myth, this work aligns with Europe’s mythopoetic art and America’s transcendental abstraction. It does not insist upon realism, but rather conjures a poetic atmosphere, like a prayer or incantation, where the image itself becomes a doorway to metaphysical awareness.
The dominance of blue in Maria Kolovou’s palette is not merely the hue of sea or sky, but the abyss of the human soul. In Greek mythology, blue is divine: the depth of the Aegean, the horizon that merges with the gaze of Zeus, and also the bruise that history leaves upon the body. From here, her poem In a Lost Paradise gains its visual embodiment.
In the poem, Maria writes:
These lines are a cosmogonic lament—that Eden, the once sacred garden, has been ravaged by dragons. Yet Maria does not end in grief. She seeks a way home, a return to the primal root, “to the place where the first tree bore fruit.” This is the archetypal human quest, a journey to origins, to the meeting ground of myth and history. Her painting becomes the body of the poem: the unseen dragon leaving only the trace of fire, the earth’s body veiled in smoke wounds, and the sky, an eternal witness.
Philosophically, Kolovou’s work stands at the crossroads of visual existentialism and Greek mythology. She poses an ancient question in modern visual language: how does humanity stand between earth and sky, between temporality and eternity? Her answer is not rational explanation, but symbolic testimony—tears that water the soil, a tree yearning to breathe again, and Zeus watching as cosmic witness.
This work also resists the aesthetic nihilism of our time. Amidst the global art scene’s tendency to recycle the banality of post-internet aesthetics, Maria brings us back to the archaic roots: myth as a living force, myth as the heartbeat of art itself. She affirms that art, like mythology, is ritual—a medium for comprehending tragedy, and a prayer that a scorched world might yet bear fruit again.
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Supporting Poem for the Review
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Maria Kolovou Roumelioti’s Uranus and Earth (90 x 110 cm, mixed media) is a profound representation of the intersection of visual art, mythology, and philosophy. Within the trajectory of global contemporary art, this work affirms the resurgence of mythopoetic tendencies—art that revives mythological narratives as vehicles for existential reflection and critique of the present age.
The Context of Contemporary Art
Over the last decade, contemporary art has shifted away from postmodern dominance toward a re-exploration of spirituality, symbolism, and myth. This trend appears in the works of artists across Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia, who resist the “banality of post-internet art” by reviving cosmological metaphors. Kolovou’s painting resonates deeply with this tendency.
Uranus and Earth may be read as a form of Cosmic Neo-Symbolism, born of dialogue with 19th-century Symbolism (Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau), yet reimagined with mixed-media techniques and contemporary aesthetics. Kolovou does not depict mythology literally, but abstracts it into liquid forms, cosmic blue hues, and circles as symbols of the cosmos.
The Relationship Between Painting and Poetry
Kolovou is not only a painter but also a poet. Her poem In a Lost Paradise provides the conceptual framework for her painting. The poem speaks of a garden burned by dragons—an allegory of cosmic and ecological destruction. The painting becomes its visual counterpart: a sea-born figure, enveloped by cosmic circles, standing as witness to devastation and to the hope of renewal.
This interweaving of painting and poetry echoes the Greek tradition, where art, myth, and philosophy were inseparable—mutually sustaining ways of knowing the world.
Visual Symbolism
The Circle: symbol of the cosmos, perfection, and eternal cycles; representing Uranus (sky) encircling Earth.
The Liquid Body: signifies origin in the sea (chaos) and human fragility; a metaphor for existence as ever-shifting, unstable, mortal.
The Blue Hue: layered meanings—spirituality, the depth of the Aegean, and the bruises of history.
These symbols work together as visual narrative devices, guiding the viewer into layers of philosophical interpretation.
Greek Philosophy in the Work
Kolovou reasserts the lineage of Greek thought, particularly Hesiod’s cosmogony of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Their union and conflict birthed life and tragedy. By revisiting this myth, Kolovou invites reflection upon the contemporary crisis: the broken relationship between humanity and nature, between earth and spirituality.
Critique and Position in Global Art
Compared to the prevalence of digital and conceptual art, Kolovou’s work positions itself as a critique of art’s dehumanization through excessive technologization. She embraces what might be called archaic modernism—bringing back primal myth into contemporary visual language. This makes her work globally relevant: it does not reject contemporaneity, but refuses to forget the archetypal.
Uranus and Earth is not merely a painting but a mythopoetic manifesto. It demonstrates that contemporary art can still serve as a meeting ground for ancient philosophy, myth, and critical reflection upon modern crises. By merging poetry and painting, Maria Kolovou Roumelioti affirms that true art is not merely a play of forms, but also ritual, prayer, and cosmic testimony.
West Sumatra, Indonesia, 2025.
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