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Stark
life images
Artist finds creative
use for fried chicken |
 Last
month, an exhibition of ink drawings by Kostas Evangelatos opened at the
Pantazidis Gallery in Pagrati.
The exhibition
is entitled Doriki Katagrafi, or Doric
Scripts. It bears this name because the work has the same base
as the ancient Doric art, namely aesthetic simplicity. |
Also, Evangelatos
believes his work writes itself, creating its own stories in people's imagination,
and therefore consciously chose the title.
The display
is divided up into two parts, which mark different eras in the artist's
life. The first part is called "Bodygraphics"
and consists of a collection of drawings of human bodies, positioned in
circles. The way the bodies are depicted is very detailed and reminds one
of anatomical studies as they were carried out in the Renaissance period
by great names such as Leonardo Da Vinci. Many of the drawings also bear
mathematical symbols, such as arrows or letters.
"That's
true", Evangelatos says, "I have always been greatly influenced
by classical and Renaissance art. In my work, I hold on to traditions.
I elaborate on them and make them contemporary.
Circles
are the symbol of totality, universality. In this particular collection,
I have consciously positioned the bodies in circles to indicate the idea
that everyone's body is his or her own little universe within the whole.
This idea, humanism, has always been a source of inspiration for me."
The second
part of the exhibition consists of a large collection of landscapes from
the Ionian Sea. Rocks, stones, clouds, ruins and trees are depicted with
the same finesse as the bodies.
However,
the atmosphere created is different. The landscapes make a very melancholic,
nostalgic and poetic impression. "That is the idea. I also write poetry
and I believe that my drawings tell the same tales in images as my poetry
does in words. These landscapes actually relate to the very first work
I did. I was born on Kefalonia and my first drawings were of impressios
of the island. Although they were in bright coloros, whereas these are
in black and white, they still remind me of my home and my childhood"
says Evangelatos.
Evangelatos
has consciously chosen to keep the pictures in black and white, because
it shows the most extreme contrast between the positive and the negative;
life and death, it could be said. This contrast is carried further in the
actual images themselves. Rocks and ruins on one hand (dead, static) and
trees, birds and water on the other (active, dynamic, moving) symbolize
the idea of resurrection. A similar thing is seen in "Bodygraphics".
By means of the detailed depiction of muscles within the bodies and the
regular use of arrows, a dynamic effect is created.
Evangelatos
is, first and foremost, famous for his large oil paintings and his later
watercolors. Also, he generated a lot of controversy over his activities
as a performance artist. In 1985, for example, he stood outside John Lennon's
house wearing nothing but rolls of telex paper, in order to warn the world
that humanity was on its way to becoming "covered" with technology. A performance,
in 1987, was dedicated to those who had died of AIDS, The Dada Gallery
in Athens he transformed into an ancient grave with a long corridor. At
the end of the corridor, a nude young boy stood, his private parts covered
in telex paper, to which photographs of AIDS patients were stuck.
In December
last year, Evangelatos hung fried chickens from the roof of the art
studio Est, pieces of which he offered to his public. "I did that
because I don't feel people communicate with art anymore. Rather than (see
it) as the expression of something, they see it as something that can be
bought and sold. Too many people buy art to impress others, or just because
there is a great name attached to it. I don't think that's right. Instead
of buying art for the sake of it, they should look at it critically in
order to find its deeper meaning. Only if that is done, and done properly
can art be fully understood" says Evangelatos.
KARIN SITALSING
Special
to the Greek Times
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