Arts Thread

My name is Teo Modoi, I am an emerging artist graduating from Glasgow School of Art, where I studied Painting and Printmaking. My practice consists of painted compositions depicting scenes from agrarian landscapes, wastelands and construction sites, most of them containing a subtle autobiographical element.The artistic universe I create is dominated by a menacing and uncanny atmosphere, similar to the one created by Magical Realism in literature. I am interested in identifying the nightmarish potential of the everyday life object, in expressing the idea that any element from our surroundings could hide narratives of obstruction and entrapment. The particular images I settle for share a liminal aspect, suggesting an active past full of intensity but stripped of its ideological and nostalgic glory, as well as the sceptical perspective on the future. I doing so, I investigate subjects around the Post-communist legacy through elements related to memory, labour, diaspora, ruins, ethnical and national background.My paintings have a dual aim: to create a moment of recollection and remembrance for the viewer, moment that is catalysed by their monumentality, and to challenge myself as a painter. Oil paint as a distinctive medium is important for me because it forces me to go through a process of continuous inquiry: on one hand, I am investigating the world outside, learning about its material properties and on the other hand, I am confronted with myself and with my own limitations as a human and maker. The theoretical knowledge I had about my subjects gains epistemological value through the process of painting. The idea of labour plays an important part in my practice, both from a thematic and a procedural perspective.I see the process of going to the studio and creating work as a form of ritualistic labour, I which I engage to honour my principles and to test myself against the challenge of it. I paint in an aggressive manner and every new painting represents a conflictual exchange in which ideas fight against the limits of the materials. Thus, it is impossible to talk about a specific creative process, as each attempt is marked by its uniqueness, and so are the results that follow it.