Working in Tunisia from 10.9 .2011 to 24.9.2011 on an invitation of the city of Monastir : 9th festival d'art plastiques.

Working in Tunisia from 10.9 .2011 to 24.9.2011 on an invitation of the city of Monastir : 9th festival d'art plastiques. 

Three times I took part in the festival : 2008, 2009, 2011. After the opening by the committee of the organization on Sunday 11.8, the artists, about 40 : Russians, Turks ,Ukrains, Canadians, Poles, Italians, French and Belgians were invited by the new mayor of the city. With nostalgia the time of Bourguiba was mentioned ( his origin was in Monastir). His office was showed to us. Afterwards a photo session at the sight of the Tunisian flag was made and a reception given with a lot of hospitality. Later was the usual visit of the city and center with its exceptional ribat and the beautiful mausoleum of Bourguiba. In the afternoon we visited the exhibition of Tunisian painters in the international museum at the Marin and the revolution was reflected by many works and to me they asked my vision about it. Later it was distributed on TV national 1. 

On Tuesday 13.9 we visited Tunis a charming city on the hills, nice narrow streets, white flat houses and a kind of Spanish windows with , fences, all blue and masterpieces of gates, artistic creations , all closed , a mirror sea at one side ,and fading mountains at the horizon . Between the white constructions, cypresses , dividing the horizontal and vertical lines.Afterward we visited Sidi Bou Said a wonderfull town in the neighbourhood of the old Carthago. Impressive was the Bardo museum with exceptional beauties of mosaics.In the afternoon we visited an exhibition where the works of the artists of the former sessions were showed in the Kaireddine palace in presence of the minister of culture.the palace was situated at a little Spanish, Andalousian looking marketplace. To arrive there we walked endless through the charming little streets of Tunis .After many concentrated working days there wore evenings ful of danse, singing, music, a show of traditional cloths, artistic creations, with beautiful gold and silver ornaments , like you only see in church rituals. In Europe , each showed by a different artist. It looked splendid! The suppleness of the very big female dancers was amazing, like they rolled over the stage and moved in an archaic natural elegant way. Big is loved here. Because of the bad weather the visit on a ship of the island Kurat was delayed. 

On 22.9 we visited Sousse. The covered streets with souks. At last our work was exhibited in the international gallery at the Marina and visited by the governor and a delegation of important people. The young man listened patiently with great interest to the explanation of every single artist about what the meaning of his work was.

As there has to be voted in the immediate future, Tunisians had to find a new way to conduct the country . So I painted my wish for them in a metaphorical way. I used one of the villa's from Bourguiba for his guests, a very modern building like Gerrit Rietvelds architecture in the sisties but with Arab elements, looking very European , very much of its time, beautiful, elegant and functional, but still neglected today. I put the accent on the stairs where a Tunisian couple was finding their way upstairs, connected to better times, and starting again.I used the building as a bridge from the old to the new modern times.In m y second work I also used the local surrounding , a stair at the seaside used by the locals to walk along the see. The stairs as a symbol for going to discover a new horizon. The young man on the rock is meditating what kind of decision he will make.