Photography
exhibition at Alaca Imaret Mosque (Kassandrou 91-93, Thessaloniki, 20-24 Dec
2014)
http://www.photocontest-thessaloniki2014.com/gallery
http://www.photocontest-thessaloniki2014.com/gallery
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Photometria Festival στη Θεσσαλονίκη και άλλες πόλεις
Η έκθεση Photometria Awards 2014 "Reflection" συνεχίζει το
ταξίδι της σε διάφορες πόλεις της Ελλάδας. 4-21 Σεπτεμβρίου θα φιλοξενηθεί στην
Θεσσαλονίκη στο Art Room
Propaganda Rollin Co Store (Ισαύρων 7).
Πάργα, Villa Rossa 20 Ιουνίου - 8 Ιουλίου 2014
Πάρος, Ξενοδοχείο Αργοναύτης 12- 30 Ιουλίου 2014
Κεφαλλονιά, Saristra Festival 8-10 Αυγούστου 2014
Θεσσαλονίκη,
Art Room Propaganda Rollin Co Store 4-21.9.2014
Αθήνα,
Athens House of Photography 24.9-13.10.2014
Βόλος, Πολυχώρος Τσαλαπάτα 6-23 Νοεμβρίου 2014
Χανιά, Νεώριο Μόρο (Ιστιοπλοϊκός όμιλος Χανίων) 2-9
Δεκεμβρίου 2014
Άργος, Αψέντι καφέ 17 Δεκεμβρίου 2014 - 11 Ιανουαρίου 2015
Πάτρα, 22 Ιανουαρίου - 1 Φεβρουαρίου 2015
Μυτιλήνη, 2 - 6 Μαρτίου 2015, εκθεσιακός χώρος ΦΕΜ ,
Πιττακού 15
Πρέβεζα, 20-29 Μαρτίου 2015
Πρέβεζα, 20-29 Μαρτίου 2015
Φωτογραφία απ'το
Το Saristra Festival είναι το σημαντικότερο καλλιτεχνικό γεγονός των Ιονίων Νήσων, ένα μουσικό και εικαστικό φεστιβάλ στα ερείπια του παλιού χωριού των Βλαχάτων Κεφαλλονιάς. Εκθέσεις εικαστικών τεχνών, προβολές ταινιών, σεμινάρια και διαλέξεις καθώς και δραστηριότητες για παιδιά φιλοξενούνται στα χαλάσματα των σπιτιών. http://saristrafestival.gr/ προγραμμα/παραλληλεσ-δραστηριοτητεσ/
Φωτογραφία απ'τον Πολυχώρο Τσαλαπάτα στον Βόλο
Το Εργοστάσιο Πλινθοκεραμοποιίας Ν. & Σ. Τσαλαπάτα ήταν ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα
του είδους του. Τα εργαστήρια και οι βιομηχανικοί χώροι έχουν αναστηλωθεί και
αποτελούν σήμερα σπάνιο δείγμα διασωζόμενου βιομηχανικού συγκροτήματος στον ελληνικό
χώρο.
http://www.piop.gr/MuseumNetwork/MouseioPlinthokeramopoieiasTsalapata/ToMouseio.aspx
Φωτογραφία απ'την έκθεση στη Φωτογραφική Εταιρεία Μυτιλήνης
Φωτογραφική Εταιρεία Μυτιλήνης
Πιττακού 15, 81100 Μυτιλήνη, 2251041555, photo@fem.gr
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Mannequin
Mixed Media on Canvas (three
panels forming a triptych, 114x46cm)
http://www.thinkfree.gr/30-χρόνια-σκετβε-1983-2013-μεγάλη-έκθεση-τω-2/
http://www.thinkfree.gr/30-χρόνια-σκετβε-1983-2013-μεγάλη-έκθεση-τω-2/
The "Abstraction" paintings
This series of paintings represents the artist’s
obscure inner condition in pursuit of individuality and the “absolute”. This
work was the result of “inner unrest” and an overwhelming desire to express the
ineffable -a kind of “mirroring” of the inner self into the material
environment.
The paintings could be best described as self-signifying,
self-referential entities which speak in a cryptic “imagistic” language. Potentially,
the paintings could function as “portals” which transport the viewer to the
realm of pure aesthetic and intellectual speculation.
There are three key recurring motifs: circular shapes,
dark-coloured backgrounds and three-dimensional objects. The circle is a symbol
of wholeness/ perfection and refers to the discovery of transcendental
awareness. The dark backgrounds symbolize primordial emptiness, the void and
the unconscious. Out of the “emptiness” emerge three-dimensional objects which
with their “materiality” disrupt the two-dimensional surface of the canvas. By
being incorporated into the artwork these discarded objects become
“sublimated”- their formal reality is transcended and they are transformed into
symbols of spiritual consciousness.
Construction
4 (mixed media, 60x50cm)
Construction
8 (mixed media, 60x50cm)
Transrational
Domain (mixed media, 60x50cm)
Subsignals (mixed
media, 60x50cm)
Transcendental
Imagination (mixed media, 40x40cm)
Merge (mixed media, 40x40cm)
Friday, August 1, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Professional Photographer August 2014
.jpg)
"Self Portrait" is featured in Professional Photographer (Aug 2014 issue). Catherine Connor comments:
"If inspiration, innovation and creative thought inspires you, this image will. It has all these ingredients alongside great composition and balance. The colour and tonal range is simply beautiful. It left me moved and inspired. It's breath taking."
www.professionalphotographer.co.uk
Monday, June 30, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Photometria Festival 2014
An exhibition of 25 photos based on the theme "Reflection". Held at the Municipal Cultural Multiplex (old slaughterhouses) of
Ioannina from 4 to 15 June 2014 (Mon-Fri 18:00-22:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-14:00
& 18:00-22:00).The exhibition will travel to seven Greek cities.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
A/ for Art Festival
A/ for Art Festival at Warehouse C (Αποθήκη Γ), port of Thessaloniki (3-4 May 2014, 11:00 am onwards).
Featuring contemporary
art, performances and live music.
Tickets: 8 Euros,
Students/Unemployed: 5 Euros, Fine Art Students: Free
Monday, April 7, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Colin Wilson: 26 June 1931- 5 December 2013
Colin Wilson was a neoexistentialist philosopher, researcher, critic and
novelist. His most famous work was “The Outsider”, an analysis of the
alienation of the creative individual. According to Wilson “an ‘outsider’…is a
self-actualiser who wants to sidestep the demands of everyday life and get down
to creation. He (or she) wants to evolve, to move on.” Wilson wrote a vast
amounts of books ranging from philosophy and religion to the occult and the
history of crime.
The basic element that underpinned Wilson’s work was the desire to
overcome mundane reality and reach a new level of consciousness. Many people tend to think that a typical day
is rather tedious and repetitive, but in reality they are just not making the
effort to analyze their situation. Wilson insisted
that people aren’t one-dimensional beings but also possess the abilities of
critical analysis and imagination. He suggested that if we utilized our
critical and imaginative abilities we would realize that the world is a
meaningful and interesting place filled with infinite possibilities.
Wilson’s most important idea was the theory of “peak experience”: these
are brief but very intense experiences in which our senses and energies seem to
heighten and the world takes on a new positive meaning. Artists and creative
people seem to have this type of experience when they are inspired -Wilson
proposed that anyone can induce them by sheer effort of the
will. He saw these “peak experiences” as indications that humans possess unrealized
potentialities and believed that our primary aim in life should be to develop and
expand our understanding. He never failed to stress the importance of having a
positive outlook on life and opposed pessimist theories which describe life as
futile and meaningless.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Jannis Spyropoulos and Arthur Schopenhauer’s aesthetic theory
Jannis Spyropoulos (1912-1990) was a Greek
painter who became known as “the classicist of abstraction” (Jannis
Spyropoulos, Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, 1994). His abstract paintings
of “luminous darkness” -as Marina Lambraki-Plaka once called them (Jannis
Spyropoulos: A Classicist of Abstraction 1912-1990)- combine technical
discipline with emotional and intuitive expression.
By incorporating various elements in his images (paper collage, colour nuances which contrast against dark/monochromatic backgrounds, melted wax, signs, letters, arrows, dots, incisions, scratchings, geometric shapes, symbolic patterns), Spyropoulos attempted to create abstract “inner landscapes” which portray the “essence” of things. The individual components of his paintings seem to lose their material character, reminding one of old master paintings in which the painter endeavored to remove the marks of his brush. Spyropoulos aimed to imbue his paintings with an aura of classicism and timelessness; his “poetic and yet vigorous images…(combined) the skill of the old craftsman with the verve of the pioneer.” ( Jannis Spyropoulos: A Classicist of Abstraction 1912-1990)
By incorporating various elements in his images (paper collage, colour nuances which contrast against dark/monochromatic backgrounds, melted wax, signs, letters, arrows, dots, incisions, scratchings, geometric shapes, symbolic patterns), Spyropoulos attempted to create abstract “inner landscapes” which portray the “essence” of things. The individual components of his paintings seem to lose their material character, reminding one of old master paintings in which the painter endeavored to remove the marks of his brush. Spyropoulos aimed to imbue his paintings with an aura of classicism and timelessness; his “poetic and yet vigorous images…(combined) the skill of the old craftsman with the verve of the pioneer.” ( Jannis Spyropoulos: A Classicist of Abstraction 1912-1990)
Spyropoulos,
J. (1965) Page No. 5
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German idealist philosopher whose thinking integrated elements from eastern and western philosophies/religions, and among other topics dealt with art/aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, death and the meaning of life. Schopenhauer’s work had a big impact on other philosophers (such as Friedrich Nietzche who appropriated Schopenhauer’s idea of the “will”) and helped pave the path for psychoanalytic theories (Freud’s notion of the subconscious is present in Schopenhauer’s concept of the “will”). His metaphysical aesthetic theory -which appears in the book "The World as Will and Representation"- had a significant impact on art (especially classical music and abstract painting) and is crucial in understanding the work of Spyropoulos- and the aesthetic work of art in general.
Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I, 1969) presents the world as having two basic aspects: that of representation (the way we individually perceive things as being external to the mind) and that of will (an equivalent of the Kantian “thing-in-itself”, the way the world is in itself). The world is the representation of a single Will (the ultimate cosmic force), of which our individual wills are phenomena; because of our individual wills we can never see things as they really are -we “represent” phenomena to ourselves according to our own immediate self-interest.
Schopenhauer suggests (Vol I, Book III) that one way to free ourselves from our distorting will is through art/aesthetic contemplation: in his opinion art can suspend the viewer’s ordinary “will-ful” perception of the world and transport him/her to the higher realm of eternal “Ideas” (Schopenhauer adopts the Platonic concept of the “Idea” as the unchanging archetypal reality which exists beneath the world of phenomena and the confines of time/space/causality). Thus, the viewer is transformed from a “willing” subject into a “purely knowing” subject. Through aesthetic contemplation (Vol. I, p.178-9):
We no longer consider the where, the when, the why, and the whither of things, but simply and solely the what…(Through contemplation we) exist only as pure subject, as clear mirror of the object, so that it is as though the object alone existed without anyone to perceive it, and thus we are no longer able to separate the perceiver from the perception…What is thus known is no longer the individual thing as such, but the Idea…
As described, by “Idea” Schopenhauer means the timeless/eternal truths of our world, the undistorted/enduring elements in all change, the “innermost nature” of things which transcends phenomenal reality. The communication of this “Idea”, Schopenhauer says, is the aim of the aesthetic work of art. In his own words (Vol. I, Book III), “the object of aesthetical contemplation is not the individual thing, but the Idea in it which is striving to reveal itself.” Manos Stefanidis (Concerning Painters, 1988) argues that it is extremely difficult to clearly articulate this world of “Ideas”, since the observer inevitably interposes himself/herself and “contaminates” the purity of the “Idea”. In his opinion (p.135), the only way of participating in “things in themselves” is to be silent, to break off the “discourse”. He acknowledges such an attempt in the “silent” pictorial language of Spyropoulos (p.135):
The interpolation and participation of the observer can produce a personal vision of “things in themselves” in abstract art…The wealth of (the imagination of Spyropoulos) in morphology and colour, the power of his brush, lay close siege to the “things in themselves” as they lie enveloped in ontological silence…
Schopenhauer argues (The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II) that art requires the co-operation of the beholder as it can only act through the medium of the imagination:
Not everything can be given directly to the senses through the work of art, but only as much as is required to lead the imagination on to the right path… the very best in art is too spiritual to be given directly to the senses; it must be born in the beholder’s imagination…
In "The World as Will and Representation" he also analyzes the concept of genius, which for him consists of the capacity for aesthetic experience. He describes genius as (Vol.I, p.185-6):
The ability to leave entirely out of sight our own interest, our willing, and our aims, and consequently to discard entirely our own personality for a time, in order to remain pure knowing subject, the clear eye of the world.
He suggests that it is possible for the artistic genius to reach states of heightened perception wherein (Schopenhauer: Parerga and Paralipomena Vol 2, 2000) “the most ordinary objects appear completely new and unfamiliar”; he argues that the artist-genius is able to remain in such a state for a prolonged period of time -thereby making it possible to transmit this state of “pure perception” by “reproducing” it in his/her art.
In Schopenhauer’s view (The Essential Schopenhauer, p.29-31), art which depicts objects with excessive fidelity to nature (he mentions examples of figurative art such as still-lifes of food/drink and paintings of the nude body) cannot adequately represent the most important element of the work (the underlying “Idea”) - it is more likely to reinforce our usual will-ful/distorted way of perceiving things, rather than transport us to the realm of pure contemplation. He also suggests (Schopenhauer: Essays and Aphorisms, p. 162) that music is the superior artform: since it has no specific “subject” (which is also a characteristic of abstract painting) it can most easily transport the viewer to the realm of imagination and pure, will-less knowing.
Schopenhauer’s theories influenced many abstract painters who attempted to portray “things in themselves” (non-objective representation of things) and the “Ideas” that underlie our world of phenomena. Spyropoulos submerged himself in his work in an attempt to discover and portray the “imaginary reality” beyond the confines of time and space, cause and effect. He once declared that he “arrived at abstraction while seeking the quintessence of certain things” (Jannis Spyropoulos, Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, 1994, p.38), and that he “spread out darkness in search of light” (Jannis Spyropoulos: A Classicist of Abstraction 1912-1990”, 1995).
One could describe the art of Jannis Spyropoulos as visual music because of the effect it has on our consciousness: through harmonies, rhythm, colour-tones and composition it aims to transport the viewer to the realm of pure speculation. Perhaps his paintings could be described as “works of genius” as they convey a sense of heightened aesthetic awareness- they most certainly are a testimony of his search for “interiority” and “reality” beneath mere surface/form.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Danilopoulou, O. (ed.) (1994) Jannis Spyropoulos (1912-1990) Retrospective Exhibition. Thessaloniki : Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art.
Hollingdale, R.J. transl. (1970) Schopenhauer: Essays and Aphorisms. Penguin Classics.
Payne, E.F.J. (2000) Schopenhauer: Parerga and Paralipomena Volume 2. Clarendon Press.
Schopenhauer, A. (1962) The Essential Schopenhauer. London: Unwin Books.
Schopenhauer, A. (1969) The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I. New York: Dover Publications.
Schopenhauer, A. (1966) The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II. New York: Dover Publications.
Stefanidis, M. ‘Spyropoulos and Tsarouchis: An unforeseen dialogue on the form of the invisible’ in (1995) Jannis Spyropoulos: A Classicist of Abstraction 1912-1990. Athens: National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum.
Stefanidis, M. (ed.) (1988) Concerning Painters. Titanium.
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