Childhood Mythologies
—a statement by artist Irene Liotis
While we were visiting at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, the College graciously placed my husband and me at Mr. Mole, a bed and breakfast named for the character in Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind In The Willows. Our room called "Mole End" was a step into childhood. It was cozy and enchanting, filled with curious objects, antiques, and wonderful books. A stuffed, larger-than-life-sized Mr. Mole, wearing a red and white striped nightcap, dark velvet robe and felt slippers, sat at the foot of the canopy bed. His friends, Mr. Rat and that mischievous rascal Mr. Toad, peered down at us from the shelves. At night we read aloud from The Wind In The Willows, relishing the feelings of innocence and wonder we thought we had left behind so long ago.
That was my first introduction to Baltimore. When we moved to Baltimore permanently, that memory of childhood revisited stayed with me. It served as a springboard for my series of paintings "Childhood Mythologies."
A concept we learn as children from the best children's books and through our gradual experience is that reality is filled with dualities—goodness and badness, pleasure and pain, safety and danger.
A portion of my own childhood was spent in Germany in the 60's. It was the land of fairy tales and gingerbread houses—but also the land of concentration camp atrocities and bombed buildings. As a child, I felt the dichotomy of that environment.
Paintings from the "Childhood Mythologies" series deal with the concept of life's dualities, using the vocabulary of children's imagery (comic books, animation and children's book illustrations).
Small (8"x10") watercolors with the translucent color and delicate appearance suggest ephemeral innocence and idealism. These idyllic scenes depict a childhood that is sweet and safe. A child is at play in nature, communing with animals as friends, surrounded by toys and calming waters.
These intimate and subtle images are juxtaposed with large (48"x 60") opaque, bold, intensely colored oil paintings imparting the angst that comes with developmental awareness and experience. The oils are startling blow-ups of the original images. Disturbing the composition, altering the center of focus, zooming in, cropping and tilting that previously serene utopia imply that things are not quite right. Vulnerability exists. The future hints of danger and chaos. A curious mouse becomes a menacing rat, a playful tugboat becomes a foreboding force. The last panels represented on pages 31 through 33 in this Review came of their own momentum; a natural narrative progression from danger implied to danger realized.
Crucial to communicating my ideas and beliefs is to use a visual vocabulary that is appropriate to the concept. For example, the visual language used in "Childhood Mythologies" differs greatly from that used in my "Scene of the Crime" series. Begun in Los Angelos in 1990, "Scene of the Crime" is concerned with the darkest side of life, our fascination with murder and mayhem, our desensitization to violence and the resultant loss that desensitization brings.
Appropriate to that concept, the "Scene of the Crime" paintings use crime photos as a source and are large (60"x72"—to give the viewer a sense of walking into the scene), dark, monochromatic oils. They are painted in what can be described as photo-based realism with a painterly expressionist quality.
Working in series form gives me the opportunity to fully explore an idea. In the process I'm constantly asking questions and finding answers. After time spent researching the subject of violence ( and, later, mystery), I welcome a challenge from the other side of the spectrum—childhood and innocence—however fleeting.
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