The ΄΄Naked landscapes΄΄ by Thanos Stokas at the PAPATZIKOU gallery
The first solo exhibition of Thanos Stokas, in his birthplace, Veria, is inaugurated by the PAPATZIKOU gallery (26 Ag. Antoniou) on Saturday, April 16, at 8.00 pm.
Evi Papavergou, art historian and curator writes:
Thanos Stokas creates landscape images combining elements of abstraction and representation. In this peculiar kind of painting we discover influences from both Cezanne’s art and the modern version of Cecily Brown’s abstract expressionism.
In a first contemplation of his images we observe the artist’s obsession with the rich and technically perfect design, with the tight-fitting forms and the rich color, in abundance, which highlights his material texture with embossed touches. (…) The (orgiastic) elements of the ecosystem coexist with the human flesh in a harmonious balance. The members of the bodies spring from nature, are complicated and rotate, adopting a dual role and function, either as structural elements of nature (tree, branch, foliage, soil, water), or as signs of a human figure in a state of erotic exuberance. .)
The goal and achievement of the artist is the existence of multiple visual levels, but without a perspective. Through this different game of hidden treasure, the agony, the ecstasy of the discovery, the dreamy mood and the hidden voyeuristic access to the visual world of Thanos Stokas intensify.
The dipoles animate-inanimate, female-male, unit-pair, solid-liquid, earthy color-wet surface, calm and relaxation-exhilaration and vigilance, disguised naked-game of seduction, sophisticated sexuality-natural functionality and ritual consistency and compose this world.
It is, after all, a world full of logical, natural eroticism and Dionysian ecstasy, where truth gives way to the imaginary and the supernatural to the real.
Evi Papavergou
Art Historian-Curator