ROMA GALLERY

Giorgos Tsakiris was born in Giannitsa in 1955. He studied Electronics and later on during his studies in the school of Fine Arts in Florence, he was taught how to paint by professor Faruli and engraving with professor Vizzano. Upon his return to Greece (1983) he was living between Athens and Thessaloniki, holding a workshop on the base of Paikos mountain. In his resume, one can find more than sixteen individual exhibitions in Greece and Italy, while his entries in group exhibitions all over Greece and abroad, are well over twenty-five. Amongst others, he took part in the European Polidaedalus (1993) in Chania, in XIX Biennale in Alexandria (1997), in Athens by Art (2004) and more. His works were exhibited more often in Thessaloniki, while the artist has received many awards: he received the Special Painting Award Santa Croce in Florence in 1987 and 1982, as well as the First Award in Engraving in Vilamania in 1981. His works can also be found in the Vorre Museum, as well as in public and private collections all over Greece, Italy, Germany, France and America. His painting and engraving works until 1980 are influenced heavily by Francis Bacon. While numbers and mathematical signs, elements of Greek and Latin scripture, forming words and sentences, are embodied in his work. Gradually, all surfaces lose their rectangular or square shape. The wall installations are combined with real objects (like tree trunks, ropes and other) forming structural units. Those years around 1980, signify Tsakiris’s final transition to three-dimensional structures. Most of them have a totemic shape, and their placement creates a feeling of being part of ritual. The same rationale was followed by a series of his works, which were presented during the late ’80s and early ’90s. His set up in mountain Paikos in 1986 was very critical in the artist’s development. Since then, a series of outdoor space manipulation emerged, which was in complete harmony with the environment, without disrupting its morphology and function. What the artist proposed via this series of interventions was the existence of a special relationship between art and nature, as well as a way for the audience to view this work as a living being rather than a lifeless spectacle. Left there, time altered these structures, the same way it does to every living being. In the ’90s, living organisms were presented in front of an audience, in artificial ecosystems, created by Tsakiris in his exhibitions. This time, art doesn’t take place outdoors. All the natural functions are installed in the exhibition hall. Giorgos Tsakiris, is a very distinct case in Neo Hellenic Art. With his work, he has managed to go completely independent from static art, which derives from an organic process that allows his works to have their own life, intricately interwoven with time. His work is directly connected with Nature and Ecology. Using organic matter, he synthesizes visual propositions, which are the result of an obsessive observation of physical phenomena and nature. This way, he draws our gaze to phenomena and concepts that our society would otherwise take for granted, or ignore and disregard. Giorgos Tsakiris is an artist who honours his generation. With his work and stance, he is keeping his distance from the social and moral degradation, which our modern society has imposed, in a society of overproduction. This makes him a rather important artist.

GIORGOS TSAKIRIS

“The sound of Woodworm”

Curated by Denys Zacharopoulos

Duration:
30.09  – 08.11  2021

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