Today, Petr Vlah would be 69 years old. It is pity that he is not with us anymore. He did a remarkable work in the field of graphic and decorative arts, and became a great graphic and decorative artist of Gagauz Eri. I affirm without hesitation that Petr Vlah is the father of Gagauzian Decorative Art. His decorated gourds (squashes) are unparalleled. Three years ago I met him in his apartment in the heart of Komrat. He was sick, sad, broken by poverty and forgotten. The Gagauzian people had neglected him. He wanted only one thing from us: recognition and respect for his work; his art that was all about our traditions, our culture. He died with pain and sorrow and we will never be able to recover the loss of his sensible soul that suffered enough from his childhood due to physical deformity. On that day, I purchased two of his gourds. I wanted to stay a little longer to speak and somehow to help him in some way. But I did not have the courage for fear of offending him with my offer. Maybe it was too late for Petr. He had been my teacher, but years of neglect had made him suspicious of everybody. He did not trust anyone and felt that people would use his art for their own profit. He became engrossed in himself. As an artist, as his student, I feel guilty of not having insisted then. But then again, those were difficult times. It was the time when Moldova was in transition to a so-called independence. The sudden immersion of Moldova into capitalism broke the heart of many people but mostly affected the intellectuals, the artists, the thinkers. In money making oriented society almost nobody appreciates artists and their work. Artists like Petr became vulnerable and abused. Petr had a family crisis at this time. His disability prevented him to do physical job. He was unable to take care of himself. He lost family and friends. He lost his students: nobody was interested anymore in learning his skills. We will never understand his last thoughts about his creation and his work. All we can do now is preserve his work and place him in the rightful place in the history of Gagauz Eri. Rest in peace, Petr. I am sorry for all the pain you went through. gagauzinfo.md/index.php?do=cat&category=top2
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 01:22:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015