The last works I saw at the Akademy were sea shores and seascapes, entirely different from the works exhibited at the Bunker in Cologne, which, resting weightily on the floor, inside windowless cement rooms, „whitewashed“ and decisivety designed within the space, the air having been removed and without a trace of atmosphere, told a dramatic story.
In contrast, the landscapes experienced and painted in the Mediterranean have once more discovered, and this is important, both morning and afternoon, the limpidity oft he sea and a hidden passion fort he life within a warm, maternal embrace.
What I want to say ist hat the new reality depicted by Maria is not an escape towards the idyllic, but a commitment, which if adhered to with determination, can flourish into a bold modernity.
Jannis Kounellis
Ghent, 16 April 2002