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May 16, 2019

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Transcending East-West differences

In an era of technological advancement which has turned the world into a global village, enhanced cultural dialogues between East and West indicate that differences are not as important as similarities, Greek visual artist-composer Dean Copa told Xinhua on Tuesday.

On the eve of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing, Copa highlighted the power of intercultural dialogue in promoting understanding between peoples.

Born in Greece, a country at the crossroads of three continents with a rich cultural heritage, the young artist balances between East and West, draws inspiration from China as he looks to the US, and sees no differences between peoples as dialogue deepens using art as a vehicle, he explained during an interview at his studio in the center of Athens.His art works have reached New York and Paris and now he is seeking the path to bring them to the East as well, trying to enrich his knowledge about China in particular.

“I feel Eastern, half-Eastern, because Greece is also part West, part East... The East has a mystery to me that the West doesn’t have so much, so I would love to explore the possibilities there,” said Konstantinos Papachristos, better known by his artist name Dean Copa.

“All the technologies make the boundaries look smaller and smaller. I consider us like families, the Chinese family, the Greek family. It is easier now to change perspective, lens and see humanity as a whole, easier than before... I consider us as family and I think Confucius said that under the stars we are all a big family... Our differences are not so important as we come to meet each other,” he stressed.

Beyond the differences in styles of art between Greece and China, between East and West, Copa feels the links for connection are stronger than ever and cultural exchanges facilitate understanding in all fields.

“Nowadays contemporary artists start to draw elements from different civilizations, so it is easier now for me to be inspired by China more than it was for my predecessors, because I am exposed to Chinese people, Chinese art in a way that it wasn’t possible before in that scale,” the artist noted.

Art is a common refuge with no boundaries for people everywhere to find consolation in times of difficulty in life, he concluded.




 

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