Interview for Artviews and Axia news by Georgia Tzioti
1. How did your experience in Florence and your studies there shape your artistic identity?
Florence was a major chapter in my life, both in terms of my studies and in the artistic development that followed. It wasn’t only my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence that broadened my horizons, but also my constant visits to the city’s important museums and the Italian way of life itself. Florence is, in a way, a museum in its own right—you never tire of walking through it again and again—and I was deeply inspired by the aesthetic quality that surrounded me. In cafés, in the squares, and of course in the architecture of the buildings, palaces, and churches. At the academy I was introduced to Renaissance drawing, which has become the foundation of my drawings and paintings.
2. Do you think the period you lived in New York changed the way you approach your painting? In what way?
I didn’t live in New York for very long—almost two years. The city certainly influenced me, but not so much artistically. I would say it affected me more on an experiential and emotional level. The pace of life was extremely fast for me, human interactions often felt quite superficial, and the art world was very competitive. I find New York to be a very tough city for artists, and for that reason I didn’t stay longer. However, during my time there I saw wonderful exhibitions and I met the collaborator with whom I later founded the two art residencies.
3. Your work seems to convey a strong sense of connection with history and memory. How do you incorporate these elements into your contemporary works?
Indeed, I have a deep love for history and culture. Monuments, archaeological sites, and museums fascinate me wherever I travel in the world, and wherever I hope to travel in the future. As you rightly observed, there is a strong connection with history in my work. My greatest influences come from medieval, Byzantine, and early Renaissance works—both painting and sculpture—which greatly influenced the simplification of the human form in my work. On the other hand, my relationship with memory is also strong, but less straightforward. Images and experiences from my life often blend with my imagination, creating new images that emerge subconsciously in my work. For example, because of my great love for cinema and the films I have watched, I have been strongly influenced by the director Murnau in the expressions of the faces I depict.
4. What role do spirituality and philosophy—especially the thought of Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi—play in your inspiration and themes?
First of all, I believe that art inherently contains spirituality by its very nature. I was influenced by Rumi’s philosophy, particularly by his poem “The Beloved,” because it helped me find answers in my search for “Union,” which was also the theme of my last solo exhibition in 2022. In my ongoing exploration of love, passion, and existential anxiety, I found in Rumi’s philosophy the answers and the sense of identification I had been seeking.
5. How do you view the relationship between individual creation and the artistic community, especially through your involvement with Mudhouse Residency and Athena Standards Residency?
My close relationship with art residencies came to an end last year, and now I maintain more of an advisory role. I completed a decade-long cycle in which my interaction with artists was very revitalizing. I learned to remain open to different aesthetic and theoretical artistic proposals, and it helped me experiment with certain artistic media. In fact, during the Mudhouse Residency, two years ago, I began working in sculpture. The inspiration came during an artistic workshop in Agios Ioannis, Crete, when the idea first occurred to me to try to make use of everyday, humble materials that had lost their value—mainly plastic—and give them a second life. I began shaping and forming them so that they could acquire the same stylistic qualities as the human figures I paint.
6. What is the most significant challenge you have faced as a contemporary visual artist in Greece today?
I believe that being a visual artist in itself is a huge challenge, both in Greece and anywhere else, particularly in terms of survival, integration into the system, and navigating the art market. Beyond that, I personally found it difficult, after the birth of my son, to balance painting, motherhood, and running the art residencies.
7. In an era of digital technology and new media, how do you maintain authenticity and a personal element in your painting?
I’m not particularly comfortable with digital technology. It certainly helps with communication, but that’s about it. I love the handmade process, which often involves the entire body. If I ever lose the personal element in my painting—and I’m not referring to authenticity, because it’s difficult to claim that about oneself—it will certainly be because of my own mind, not because of technology.
8. What does the concept of “union,” which often reappears in your work, mean to you?
“Union” has been a search for love and passion. In a way, it symbolizes for me the difficulty of close human relationships, which are bound together by love but also suffer because of it. In my works, I want the image of “union” to function as a form of redemption for the figures. At the same time, “union” also symbolizes reconciliation with ourselves.
9. What is your relationship with Crete, and how has this connection influenced your artistic work?
I used to go to Crete on vacation with my parents when I was a child. In 2008 I decided to have a house-studio in an abandoned village in southern Crete, and since then I have been going back and forth to the island quite often. The Mudhouse Residency also takes place there every summer. Crete has influenced my painting deeply, both internally and externally. My darker works began to emerge at night in the village, while looking at the night sky, the Libyan Sea, and the walls of the ruins faintly illuminated by the light of the narrow streets. The images I have are like photographic negatives. I have often imitated this “inverted” lighting in my work.
10. How would you describe the evolution of your artistic style from your early works until today?
There has been a great evolution from the time I graduated until today. My early works contained many colors and vaguely resembled abstract landscapes and animals. The atmosphere of those works clearly showed the influence of Munch, whom I admire greatly. Later, some animal-like motifs appeared, which gradually became more human and eventually evolved into the figures that appear in my work today. I have the impression that in the past I was closer to Expressionism, whereas today I compose in a more classical way while still remaining contemporary—or at least that is how I see it.
11. What is the most striking or unexpected comment or reaction you have received about one of your works?
One of the most unexpected comments I received was many years ago at my exhibition at the Medusa Gallery of the late Maria Dimitriadi. The title of the exhibition was “1+1=1.” One visitor stood for a long time in front of a work that was a drawing depicting two figures embracing. He then approached me and told me that he liked the work very much because it reminded him of tango dancing, since he himself was a dancer. I was surprised and told him that the drawing was indeed inspired by tango, as I am also a tango dancer. In the end he told me that although he was a mathematics professor and in principle would correct me regarding “1+1=1,” as a tango dancer he also found the result of the equation to be correct.
12. What dreams or plans do you have for the future of your artistic career? Are there new themes or techniques you wish to explore?
Alongside painting, I recently began working with sculpture, as I mentioned earlier. For a long time I had wanted to explore sculpture and the concept of space, so that I could see the figures I paint in a three-dimensional form. For years I experimented with many different materials, but none produced the result I was seeking. After much exploration, the answer came through the use of the humble materials I mentioned earlier. I was fascinated by the idea of taking something insignificant and giving it a new life, thereby capturing the figures I had been painting for years. At the same time, my exploration of three-dimensional forms gives me new ideas for painting as well. In my next exhibition, I would very much like both expressive media to coexist within the same space.
From Georgia Tzioti for Artviews, Art-Interviews, 1182025 and for Axianews, Interviews, 23-2482025