To depict a face or a phase is the outmost challenge. To be able to observe not just see, what is within and what is beneath requires altruism and determination. As an artist, I create paintings that go beyond to what can be immediately observed. There is a prominent idea of portraiture in most of my work, but I focus on the deconstruction of faces and the detail of an unconventional characteristic rather a conventional. Texture and colour intentionally overtake the centrality of many of my figures creating a special inventiveness of the format. The subtle layers of paint I employ and the ambiguity of my figures produce an image that appears to be uncovered. My narrative is often based on how transformation takes place with additive and subtractive processes that portray elements of humanity and the explorations of suffering in all forms. I am interested in the reduction of forms to represent the psychology of the crowd, the figure, the landscape and/or the face - I base the thematics of my work on personal experiences and memoirs of the deprivation of life.
Speaking the language of abstraction - the impact surrounding my portraiture, landscape and figuration is often based on the dislocation of memory along with patterns of intuition. The most essential part of my work is the semantic of paint and in many aspects repetition that rethinks the conceptions of life and speaks to the undisturbed mind.
Any of my work could be translated in political and personal interpretations. I am a Cyprus bred artist, where the issues of conflict and segregation are still prominent. I have been highly influenced by artists like Anselm Kiefer, Leon Golub and Lucian Freud. Kiefer in terms of the materials has given me a special understanding on the perception of how ordinary things can be explored in order to create an unconventional surface. His roots being a post-World War 2 artist, has enabled me to visualise my work in a political context. Leon Golub has worked efficiently in allowing me to understand the specificity needed in my portraiture. Lucian Freud was the catalyst in the understanding of portraiture and the obligation of an artist while executing the figure. In his attempt of autobiography through his self-portraits series, I have come to understand the importance of a narrative in my work and I have been evolving my work around that for a time. Scrutinising Freud I have seen the essential balance of light and shadow, psychology and the unconventionality of beauty in the most absurd places.
My work is the narrative of who I am.
The transformation in which the artist is facing should always be part of a work in order to allow the audience to adjust in an unconventional surrounding.
Whether that is agonising to visualise - or not.