“Art is the metaphysics of craft.” Maritsa Travlos’s work walks
the tightrope with carefree gracefulness between the two poles of
art and craft, poles that seem related, yet most times are dizzy -
ingly discrete.
Vast in range, richness and ingenuity, her work can
effortlessly be included among the applied arts or design. Using
delicate porcelain and a generous palette of colors as her media,
her artistic genius and limitless industriousness guide her in cre-
ating her own boundless artistic universe, making use of tried
techniques and discovering new and original ones. Founded on in-
novative skill, her creative imagination has put her own personal
stamp on the multi-form decorative and useful objects that she
crafts. Yet apart from these, there are works that claim their right-
ful place in what is deemed purely artistic creation. The large-
scale paintings she composes with the “precious” and refined pal-
ette of colored porcelain, employing her own original technique,
can easily be included in this category.
Marvelous tables, crockery, mirrors, enchanting lamps, and evoca-
tive light fixtures are only some of the dozens of useful objects
Maritsa Travlos has designed with simplicity, good taste and the
utmost sense of functionality. Form and color converse harmoni-
ously, allowing these objects to be fluently assimilated by any am -
bience. The creator displays particular sensitivity in the chromatic
scales she chooses, masterfully combining a genteel gamut of qui-
et pastels with gladsome chords of vivid notes. The innate prop-
erties of porcelain—translucency and refined luxuriousness—are
highlighted with the suitable techniques—smoothening or bur-
nishing—lending these works a rare quality.
Nature and especially her beloved sea world, of which she has
intimate knowledge, are an inexhaustible source of inspiration
for Maritsa Travlos. The colored porcelain fish she crafts, at times
as lively individual sculptures and at others as decorative motifs
embedded in a surface, do not belong to an abstract sea-world
species; they are recognizable in all their flapping vitality. Living
close to the sea—an angler herself—she also maintains aquaria
rich with Mediterranean and exotic fauna, allowing her to com-
municate directly with her living models and convey their vibe
in her works. Even her abstract forms preserve intimations of the
living sea realm, as is also the case with her light fixtures, inspired
by sea urchin shells, with their perfect plasticity and ornate deco-
rative texture.
Another side of Travlos’s talent is revealed in her colored sketches
and drawings. Her artistic idiom bears the strength to perceive
and portray instantaneous movements and fluid images of daily
life with dynamic clarity and a sense of humor.
The multi-faceted artist’s large wall compositions, which can,
in my opinion, easily be categorized as works of pure visual art,
also intimate seascapes. These monumental paintings presuppose
knowledge and skill in handling composition and color, which Mar-
itsa Travlos seems to possess and control with facility and origi-
nality. Her dynamic and balanced compositions feature melodic
rhythms. Her chromatic harmonies, oftentimes homophonic, are
dominated by cool, blue-green aquatic tones, which are enlivened
by sudden, rare and precious warm ones. These paintings give the
impression of painted works and only when observed up close
does one realize they are actually made of porcelain. Abstract and
only hinting at representational art, they retain their pleasant
decorative character, which suffuses the whole of Maritsa Trav -
los’s oeuvre, one destined to uplift our daily lives with the blessing
of art and good taste.
Marina Lambraki Plaka
Professor Emeritus of Art History
Director of the National Art Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum
Translated from Greek by Thalia Bisticas
