For centuries, this city where we live today has been a refuge for all sorts of people, and for a considerable number of outstanding artists. The remarkable Portuguese poet Camilo Pessanha died here in 1926, however since then Macau has not had one single literary author of significant note. On the other hand, in terms of visual arts the city has maintained its charms and its prominent characters. One of them is Mainland-born painter Mio Pang Fei, one of our cover stories last year. And another is undeniably Konstantin Bessmertny, the Russian artist who has called Macau his home for decades.
Konstantin, a gifted artist technically speaking, is above all a man with a deep notion of himself and the world surrounding him, a man who reads and writes and researches, a man who thinks. His works, from painting to sculpture, have unquestionable technical virtues, but they’re even more valuable because they intelligently reflect a time and space, that space being Macau to some extent.
In this long and exclusive interview with CLOSER (on page 20), the Russian artist tells us he believes in a generational footprint, and some kind of legacy we’ll leave for the coming generations. He also believes that sometimes foreigners, when they fall in love with a place, can be more local than locals – something that is far from being the rule, but that does happen, as those like me, who’ve adopted this city, know. Konstantin still sees Macau as a land of opportunities, also in the visual arts sector. Not wanting to get involved in any kind of political activity, he nonetheless does have a number of interesting ideas for the city and its cultural development.
This year of 2016 marks the comeback of Konstantin in terms of major shows in Macau. We’ll be able to see his works on display again soon and that’s always good news.
The city is changing and this month we hear ‘creative cities’ expert Charles Landry talk about possible ways of developing it (page 44). We also look at Macau’s new gaming model (page 102), which experts suggest should more closely follow in Las Vegas’ footsteps.
CLOSER also travels to the far off land of Madagascar, that mysterious African island, and presents a stunning report that is really worth reading (page 84).
The New Year is here and we should embrace it, just before we also embrace Chinese New Year. Without making any unrealistic resolutions, let’s all just try to be a bit better everyday – which is quite a lot already.
P.S. – As publishers of a monthly magazine and co-organizers of an annual festival devoted to books and literature, we can’t avoid expressing our deep concerns relating to the case of the missing booksellers in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese and the SAR authorities really need to come clean in explaining what has happened to Lee Bo and other four people associated with the publishing house Mighty Current. It is Hong Kong’s (and also Macau’s) autonomy that is at stake here.
