Scriptwriter, painter, writer and designer Tonino Guera, despite his old age, likes traveling in the world and discover new things. Last year he visited Armenia and was impressed. In his interviews he told about the Armenian nature and culture. “The latest humanist of the age” saw a human and fantastic environment in our country, which gives birth to inspiration. In one year Tonino Guera visited our country again, but this time he came with his friends – film producer and painter Rustam Khamdamov and painter Marina Azizyan. One of Guera’s best friends is his wife – Lora Guera (Yablochkina), who speaks about Armenia with great love.
“Guera and friends” project, which started on October 7, will last ten days and will include film shows, meetings and mastership classes. “I have understood that if you come to Armenia as a tourist, you cannot leave as a tourist. The way to Armenia is a vertical way; you are leaving from here being totally another person,” said Tonino Guera before opening the exhibition of his sculpture-lanterns in the national Gallery of Armenia. The same day also the exhibition of Marina Azizyan’s works was opened, who lives in Saint Petersburg. The latter entitled this exhibition as “Guera’s fantastic vocabulary”. We don’t imagine well the worth of the word, the “logos”. The word can also be memory, just an imagination, and an art created by handicraft technique. Marina Azizyan thinks that words are like tales. She has sewed different pictures from different clothes, which are based on parts of the poetic novels of Tonino Guera. In order to watch that exhibition you need much time; it is impossible to see the text and the pictures at glance and you need to study both these two components. Both the meaning and the expression are very tender and poetic.
“When I visited Armenia first I was mostly impressed by the monument of the alphabet. The alphabet is a true and very strong liquid, which connects and unites the nation. If the alphabet loses its meaning, it will become an unclear rustling being heard like the noise of rain or an engine,” said Guera. As for Marina Azizyan, she has created color improvisations based on Guera’s words. She considers herself a simple person since through her life experience she has understood that the most important things can be explained only with simple words. Marina Azizyan does not like speaking and asks, “Why don’t you see the answers in my works?”
– How was the “Fantastic vocabulary” created?
– Everything happened spontaneously. I suggested Tonino to do that project, and he agreed easily. Generally, Tonino Guera agrees easily if he likes the idea. I like poetry very much. And for me the alphabet is letters to use in poems. The project was born from the poetry, letters and the love to Tonino Guera. Tonino is a strange man; he is not only a writer, but also a narrator. I have created many tales both in the cinema and theatre and it is very interesting to me to continue working with such interesting man. I can’t say that I have done my works for some specific reasons. I haven’t done them for any purpose, maybe no one needs my works, no one has ordered them. Just my relations with Tonino are very pleasant to me… Definitely I created that project to continue my relations with him. This exhibition has already been shown in the Hermitage, and it will be shown in Italy after Yerevan.
– Are the letters the symbols of people?
– The letters are the parts of culture, which is the reason why they have a great meaning. Each letter has a meaning. A philosopher said that all vowel sounds have spiritual meaning, and the consonants are just traps to hide that meaning. However, I don’t like and don’t want to philosophize. In this project I am just answering to Tonino. There is allegory in any of the Tonino’s poems, even in the shortest one, and that allegory is very hard to analyze. Sometimes he smashes his words so much that at first glance it seems there is no allegory in his words. In a novel entitled “House” Tonino writes, “My house is in the mountains, it is so high that my ear listens to the God coughing”. What do you think? What does he mean by saying “house”? I think that his house is the house of literature, to which he belongs together with Pushkin, Dante. During the soviet period Tonino’s house could be called “Culture house”. I don’t see anything strange in that name; it has a very wide meaning. Looking for allegory in Tonino’s writings is a very interesting exercise. I can’t say that my searches are always successful, but I will do my best.
– Do you look for allegory in each work?
– It is my profession. I am a theatre painter and I am connected with dramaturgy with strong ties. My job is working with literature and I often even say that I am just attached to literature. Now I am working with Tonino Guera, but in the past I have worked with Iosif Brodski, Shakespeare. Working with words is a usual occupation for me and I don’t do anything extraordinary.
– You are creating extraordinary pictures from usual materials.
– I am supporting simpler expressions. All my works were created spontaneously; we have chosen with Tonino those literal parts, which had to become pictures. Thus I have sewed those parts.