The works of the most prominent plastic artists predicted change and emancipation of artistic thinking. Info-Prim Neo interview with president of the Union of Plastic Artists of Moldova, Anatol Rurac

[ - How was 2008 for the plastic arts in Moldova?] - I think that no radical changes took place in 2008. The rate established during the last decade is maintained, at least in the exhibition process of the Union of Plastic Artists. No metamorphoses were witnessed outside the Union of Plastic Artists. I mean other associations or institutions focusing on plastic arts. [ - What is typical of the national plastic arts?] - The presence of personalities and talent on the one hand and the mediocrity and lack of talent on the other hand – these are the specific features of the plastic arts in Moldova. They are in a continuous battle, always and anywhere. Yet, despite the difficult situations experienced in the past, Moldova has and will have artists that created values and tried to adjust the national works to the world standards. [ - What are the new trends in the national plastic arts?] - The plastic arts cannot produce new trends in a year. It is the result of a transition period that started before independence and meant the liberation from the dogmas imposed by the ideologists of the Socialism. During two decades, the plastic arts had struggled to free from the themes of those times and from esthetic principles of Unitarianism in treating the creation, tending to diversity. The major modern trends are: synchronization with the principles of universal arts, the currents of the new art on the one hand and the support to the values of any realism, impressionism, expressionism etc. Today, or at least during the last decade, the works of the most prominent plastic artists predicted change and emancipation of the artistic thinking. They pleaded for the freedom of creation and artistic value. [ - How did the authorities and the plastic arts get on in Moldova?] - Unfortunately, the governments called democratic, as in these eight years, worked in parallel with the plastic arts. I can make two distinctions: the governments called democratic offered state awards to artists at the proposals of the Union of Plastic Artists, but it was very hard to obtain that symbolic financial support. The Communists offered the support without problems, but accepted none of the Union’s proposals as regards state awards. These are the Union’s relations with the authorities: two parallel worlds. The political environment did not essentially change. I’m afraid that the state and the culture will continue to exist in parallel for a long time. [ - What are your forecasts for the arts in 2009?] - It is hard to make forecasts for 2009. The Union of Plastic Artists will face elections and it is hard to say what changed they will bring, as the general elections that we except. I fear the things could get worse under the influence of the world crisis and the lack of experience.