Art Critiques:
Uniting Vision and Consciousness

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

~ Aristotle

In the last few decades, there has been a significant transformation in the communicative function of Art. It has become a set of various connections with philosophy, history, technology etc., where each element of an art work is associated with a certain phenomenon in contemporary life, or has a reference to the world cultural and/or historical heritage. In other words, Contemporary Art exists where there is dialogue and interaction and, in a broader way, it goes from universality to an individual artist`s mythology and vice versa.

Contemporary artists are not only aware of their responsibility in this regard, they, actually, redefine their role: they see themselves as mediators in co-creation and collaboration, where viewer`s experience becomes an important principle.

Based on the Ancient Greek maxima “Know thyself and you shall know the Universe and the Gods”, Elisaveta Sivas, a conceptual sculptor, strives to give a person an incentive for an intellectual and spiritual breakthrough.

The anthropocentric culture reigning in western society for centuries, made a human an isolated creature in this world. Since then, people were seeking the Truth about their place in the Cosmos and the path to it.

Kandinsky and Malevich, the largest theorists of the Russian avant-garde, understood art as a powerful guide to the spiritual world. Shifts in awareness, interconnection and interrelationship, wholeness and unity, infinity and the eternal often define spiritual experience and, in turn, inspire and shape the artistic impulse.

Elisaveta found her unique way to bring the idea of a collective transformation through the personal experience. It echoes the Holy Grail: he who drinks from it receives the eternal life. In her art, the artist invites the viewer to look at the world through the eyes of the Creator. Elisaveta manifests that it is a chance to call to memory one`s True Self.

The artist explores the viewers` connections to wider systems of meanings by stimulating their personal metaphors and symbols. Just the way the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus compared the Creator of our world with a playing child, the artist inspires an almost child-like pleasure in comprehending that a viewer actually can enter the Creator`s head, whoever the creator is - an artist or the God.

The path to one`s True Self includes schemes, drawings, paintings, sculpture and public art. The sculptor creates symbolic forms using clay, oil on canvas and some other materials in case of large-scale public objects. For all their static nature, Elisaveta`s sculptures are designed for the variance of points of perception (inside/outside). The nakedness and openness of the figures reflect complete transparency and honesty in the dialogue with oneself and with the world.

Using metaphoric images of an anthropomorphic nature - the head of the Creator - the author resorts to some kind of cryptography to capture and decipher the sacred universal messages.

It is not by chance that Elisaveta creates a dialogue with the Cycladic art: the Cycladic islands are located as a circle (kyklos) around the sacred island of Delos, the site of the holiest sanctuary to Apollo and most figurines are images of a deity or spirit, which serve as a figurative visual interpretation of the spiritual force (God).

These beautifully polished figurines demonstrate such a holistic harmonious character that they have had a strong influence on the work of modern masters. The artist refers to the philosophical influence of Picasso, Brancusi, Modigliani, who drew their inspiration from the Cycladic idols and gave a new vitality to the ancient images.

Following the modernist tradition of revisiting the world cultural heritage, Elisaveta`s style inherits the formal and semantic elements laid down by the Cycladic art. The plastic approach is associated with its geometry and minimalism, which, carried through modernism into modernity, enhances the perception of the image, regardless of their size. It is a non-random characteristic that allows us to talk about universality.

Paying tribute to its universal significance, the artist actualizes this form into metamodernism, filling it with her own meaning: a person who has realized that s/he is Creator achievespeace in head and heart.

Elisaveta`s role as an artist coincides with the one of a philosopher. Believing that art today should lead people and society to a better life, the artist stimulates thoughts in a person`s mind, helping humanity go through initiation into awareness.

Thus, she becomes the artist of the future. She brings the understanding that it is variable and depends on the choices that people make in the present. In other words, by entering the Creator`s head a person symbolically performs a ritual: having united with his/her True Self, they can finally find their perfect place in the world.

Julia Sysalova

Curator, Critic –AICA Member (International Association of Art Critics)

Vice President of Institute of the Mediterranean Culture, Greece

Quanto può essere difficile trasporre in una materia forte e compatta, quale il marmo, un'idea o ancor più un pensiero? E' la sfida perenne tra l'uomo e la materia, nel tentativo di aggirare, superandoli, tutti gli ostacoli. Ma se il pensiero è forte e l'idea è un messaggio da trasmettere agli altri, la sfida si fa ancor più ardua. Ma, paradossalmente, possibile. Perche più essenziale è la forma, più immediato è il messaggio.

Riflette così Elisaveta Sivas, originaria dell'Estonia. Un articolato percorso di studi tra pittura, scultura, ceramica e arti applicate, intrecciato con la personale ricerca nella spiritualità. Nel blocco di marmo Grigio Carnico, Elisaveta ha intravisto una forma. Dal pilastro, quasi non lavorato, collocato su di una base, emerge una testa. Spicca nera e levigata, particolare e miteriosa. La testa del Creatore, spiega Elisaveta. Di colui che,attraverso la conoscenza, ci invita alla ricerca dell'armonia, della pace e della connessione tra tutte le forme di vita da lui create. Ma non ha occhi, perché i suoi occhi siamo noi, capaci di vedere ed esprimere la bellezza del Mondo. Non ha la boccaperché è la nostra parola a diffondere l'armonia e la pace che ci ha insegnato. E non ha le braccia perché è compito nostro accogliere in un abbraccio colui che ci è vicino e condivide il viaggio terreno.

Il nostro sguardo è catturato dalle parole incise sul pilastro: »I Know – Lo so«. Ora sappiamo. E dobbiamo impegnarci a raggiungere la pace, l'armonia, la bellezza che il Creatore ci ha indicato. Abbandonando ogni individualismo, ogni egoismo, ogni scetticismo, a favore di una Comunità guidata da questi valori.

Elisaveta Sivas lascia il suo messaggio a Vergnacco e alla terra friulana. Ora anche noi Sappiamo - We Know.

Laura Vianello

Giornalista presso l’RTV Slovenia, conduttrice del programma 'Arte Visione'

Dottoressa in Storia d’Arte e Letteratura Moderna

How difficult can it be to transpose an idea or, even more so, a thought into a strong and compact material, such as marble? It is the perennial challenge between man and material, in the attempt to circumvent and overcome all obstacles. But if the thought is strong and the idea is a message to convey to others, the challenge becomes even more difficult. But, paradoxically, it is possible. Because the more essential the form, the more immediate the message.

Thus reflects Elisaveta Sivas, originally from Estonia. An articulated course of studies between painting, sculpture, ceramics and applied arts, intertwined with personal research into spirituality. In the block of Grigio Carnico marble, Elisaveta glimpsed a shape. From the pillar, almost unworked, placed on a base, a head emerges. It stands out as black and smooth, particular and mysterious. The head of the Creator, explains Elisaveta. Of the one who, through knowledge, invites us to search for harmony, peace and connection between all the forms of life created by him. But he has no eyes, because his eyes are us, capable of seeing and expressing the beauty of the World. He doesn't have a mouth because it is our word that spreads the harmony and peace that he taught us. And he doesn't have arms because it is our job to welcome in an embrace the one who is close to us and shares the earthly journey.

Our gaze is captured by the words engraved on the pillar: “I Know”. Now we know. And we must commit ourselves to achieving the peace, harmony and beauty that the Creator has indicated to us. Abandoning all individualism, all selfishness, all skepticism, in favor of a community guided by these values.

Elisaveta Sivas leaves her message in Vergnacco and the Friulian land. Now we know too.

Laura Vianello

Journalist at RTV Slovenia, presenter of the 'Arte Visione' broadcast

Doctor in Art History and Modern Literature