PARK – Possible Interpretations

4th of July (USA): Out of chance I guess, the entire project has begun with this image, an interpretation of a series of photos taken in a 4th of July. Therefore, this image has a revealing role within the concept of PARK. I used a very obvious reality, but I focused on its hidden meaning, that revealed the portrait of a state: USA. I remember thinking that those simple individuals from a city so far away from the States gather round, from a semiconscious impulse, to celebrate a country that was theirs only in their dreams and aspirations. I then saw The United States as a global country, as a new Babel dominated by understanding, as everybody spoke the same language. A country created by people from many countries, a country build on the principles of freedom, a country whose flag was being unfold in front of my window. The car and the ping-pong table suggested the red stripes (that became complementary green in the painting) and the people looked like the stars. This is an example of an image in which everything that is not American can become American.

I have to add that all the images that comprise the series (except France) are photos taken in Romania or the Republic of Moldavia, and that they represent a possible perception of the respective country and not a veritable depiction. I established the identity of each country using the “rules” of generally accepted symbolism of images. My subjectivism in choosing the” specific” characteristics of each image can be related to a kind of collective subjectivism of seeing the other and ourselves. Each country can be recognized or not in relation with the viewer’s openness and with its intuitive decoding of the images and sensations produced by the respective country. The project wants to challenge the public into taking the same road I did when conceiving the works. It is a road that, passes the differences and follows the similarities.

1st of October (China): The void is full and the other way around. Although there are no characters in the picture and the landscape seems deserted, we are actually in the middle of a conglomerate of crowds. The many colours on the many elements that constitute the playground are a reference to the Great Wall of China. Lots of blocks of flats, with lots of windows act as symbols of communist politics. Lots of leafs, lots of trees, lots of clouds, a lot of sand, a lot of grass. Crowdedness is specific for China.

12th of October (Spain): I associate Spain with the fight between man and bull, with a preference for sports, for the ballet of gestures, for corridas, for dancing or football; a sanguine spirit that makes their movement so fluent. There two main characters in the image: the toreador-child, who just entered the arena in what seems to be an aesthetical pose, and the bull-coach, in the center of the picture, waiting for a confrontation. The balls and the poles symbolize the male virility. The entire Spanish culture – music, art, architecture, sports, dancing – can be situated into an arena, where the human spirit is gracefully confronted with brutal force, where fighting windmills becomes an irresistible dance.

27th of August (Moldavia): I find it natural that the depiction of Moldavia, the country I am most linked to, has the gloomiest feeling. A river bank, the pillars of an unfinished bridge that symbolizes the history of this land that we now call a country. A lost land of childhood, which speaks about abandon and nostalgia, from a personal point of view, but also from a socio-political one.

9th December (Japan): The presence of the sun is the most obvious link to the country of the rising sun (their national day is celebrated on the birthday of their king – the sun). The calmness and equilibrium of the landscape remind me of the Japanese gardens. The massive presence of water and of the island in the front refers to its geographical situation. For the rest of the world, Japan is a mystery.

14th July (France): This is the only work from the series in which I used photos taken in France. It represents the stairs to Versailles, without the palace, that I deleted as a symbol of the decapitation of the last French king and of the beginning of the modern period. This nation has reached a peak and (now) seems not to have where to climb any more. The place beneath the clouds is full of tension and gravity, but also with hope, as the (royal) couple manages to climb the last stairs. Once on the peak they can establish other targets to reach.

9th of May (EU): A park for everyone, a playground and a resting place, an experience filled with the hope of a united family, an optimistic balance of the differences that create equilibrium and progress. Everything is divided in equal parts of light and darkness, of beginning and end, of good and evil. The predominance of blue and white suggests the flag of the European Union.

2nd of June (Italy): Since Romulus and Remus, Italy has been dominated by a masculine ambivalence, by a competitive brotherhood that made Italy a model of civilization. Peter and Paul, Leonardo and Michelangelo, Fellini and Pasolini, Ferarri and Lamborghini are a few examples that come to mind. Its geography is also present in the work, and Vatican as a state within a state represents, once again, an example of unity in a double. Over all this there is an image of a bride with the role of virgin-mother, adored by the Italians.

30th of October (Germany): The order and discipline specific to the German people is visible in the structure of the landscape. The industrial side rigorously dominates the submissive nature. The horses refer to the Arian theories that cannot be totally neglected. The smoke stack is a reminder of the genocide of the Nazi Germany.

30th of April (The Netherlands): Due to inertia and probably to a professional “habit” I associated the Netherlands with Breugel’s skaters. The multitude of planes, of colours and themes in a sort of vertigo is much underlined by the Coca Cola billboards surrounding the skate ring, by the cosmopolite overload of advertising, even in an economy like the Nederland’s, which may appear harsh. The counter clock wise direction symbolises the non-conformism that made the Dutch famous.

14th of June (United Kingdom): Like in Japan’s case, the Great Britain’s national day is the queen’s birthday. For the British, royalty is one of the most important things in the world. The little girl doing the splits is, in fact, the queen of a small but powerful empire, spread over the 2 hemispheres of the globe. The geography is further more suggested by the position of the island towards the continent. The group of people and the articulated concrete blocs symbolize Stonehenge and the chevaliers of the round table. The atmosphere of sobriety and coolness are suggested by the hot atmosphere rendered in cold colours.

12th of June (Russia): Infinity is one of the characteristics always associated with Russia. This is what justifies their supremacy, their first exploration of the cosmos, suggested by the planes is the sky. The sea indicates the openness towards Europe that started with Peter the Great. The fragmentation of the coast is a symbol of the ethnic diversity within the great empire. The 15 characters signify the 15 republics that comprise the Soviet Union. The character in the fore ground is a sort of “Mother Russia” stepping confident towards the future, and wearing a “Nike” back-pack.

1st of December (Romania): Similar to Moldavia, Romania is more subjectively depicted, as it is my second country, but paradoxically my country of origin. The red traffic light suggests the pessimistic hold-down that characterizes us. Fog is our inner mystery that will fade away to reveal Victoriei Square, where the traffic light will surely be green.

Roman Tolici