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Nikos Samartzidis Collection: Linear B Paintings and Poetry

Painting 19 - Dylanology I

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2. Painting 02 - Pelion
8. Painting 04 - Grillos «ΤΡΙΖΟΝΙΑ» «...Και τί ομορφιά, τί σύμπνοια! Μέρα νύχτα ν’ ακούς τις νεόνυμφες ελιές και τα προπατορικά τριζόνια...» (Οδυσσέα Ελύτη: «Ο κήπος με τις αυταπάτες») "Grillos“ "...And what a harmony and beauty! Hearing night and day the flowering olive trees and the ancestral crickets chirping…" (Odysseas Elytis: “The Garden with the Illusions”. Free Translation: N. Samartzidis)

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Greek Oral Poetry
Greek Oral Tradition
Some of Samartzidis' paintings transcribe the lyrics of modern Greek folk songs into Linear B. These echo and capture the tradition of the traveling Greek poets.
I started transcribing Modern Greek poetry to Linear-B to send it on a journey through time. -- Nikolaos Samartzidis
Themes
The themes of these Greek folk songs touch on the thrill of adventure, the loneliness and sorrow of an unsettled and essentially friendless life, the dangers of travel, the longing for security, and the joy of finally reaching a permanent destination and setting down roots again. These songs show how real people read and use poetry to console, express and rejoice.

Want more on the transition of Greek folk songs to modern expression? Check out Tom Palaima's article which touches on these themes in light of Bob Dylan, Odysseus and Dionysis Savvopoulous.
Olynthos by Nikos Samartzidis
In the Olynthos painting, Samartzidis translates the lyrics of Greek song-writer Dionysis Savvopoulous to Linear B. Touching on general themes of the wandering bard, the lyrics begin on a note of loneliness as night falls.

"And the sun will fall asleep, into the ruins of Olynthos, my friends and enemies will look as if they came out from a myth..."

The full lyrics of the painting are below. Mousing over the Linear-B characters will supply a transliteration of the Linear B into the Roman alphabet. If you mouse-over the top right corner of the painting, full translations into Greek and English will also appear.

Nostalgia by Nikos Samartzidis
Samartzidis’ paintings, like the songs of the Greek traveling poets, are an exercise in nostalgia. Nostalgia is a compound word made by combing the Greek words nostos (return) with algos (pain). The end result, nostalgia, presents us with the idea of pains encountered on the spiritual journey towards home, “a journey through time”.

"If we recapture the original intensity of the two terms that make up nostalgia, we feel a strong longing to return home (νόστος) that brings on true and intense pains (ἄλγεα), (Palaima, 2010/2011).”
Bob Dylan in Linear B
Playing more with the idea, Nikos transforms from English, to Greek and Linear B excerpts from the works of Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan. He then painted them in what looks like an engraved written tablet that is typical of his style. Finally, symbols from the Phaistos Disc find their way into this painting in the image of the man and a shield, which here is a tambourine.