The presence of the sea and coastal landscape in art dates back to antiquity. Inspired by reality or mythology and other times by religion and poetry, artists have revealed the iconography of the liquid element as a separate form that inspires, captivates and causes admiration to this day. Contemporary artists often deal with the theme and propose in their own way new versions in a hotly debated and constantly dynamic expression. Orientation in a vast environment, the worship of the unknown and its structure are situations in which artists find themselves as swimmers in their own adventure.
From the dark blue in Mitseli’s work emerge figures like shadows of an old forgotten mythology that she discovers in the vague form of randomness. The figure is again found submerged in water, inwardly this time, with a strange emotional charge between the person-role and the water that purifies or eventually hides the stories of Theofilaktou. In the sea in Bliatkas’ work, there is no horizon. There is deep silver space emitting light. The space entity tends to be simplified resulting in a form of a dock or a stone, the points one encounters on his way to a realm beyond.
Bapir records that moment where the glance is discouraged by the endlessness of its horizons and looks for a place to exist. Bitter sunsets in urban industrialized environments. Pallis is also close to his intentions but with a poetic clarity of light walking on the edge between inner and outer space. Seawater and its microcosmic landscapes proliferate under Ziakkas’ perspective. By focusing on the plane of the seabed this multitude is integrated with the water and submerges the glance whereas in his embossings he handles living forms and the visual arts space with excellent skill.
Using paper art Athanasopoulou gives us swirling forms left trustingly to the whirling happiness of blue. Koutroumbis records his quiet wandering through coastal landscapes and familiar spaces with a photographic look. The facts are implied and happen through the glance. The emergence of blue through the hard contrast of bathers in Lioukras’ paintings is the actual problem that is successfully resolved. With pure painting values his forms are converted into referents of our time.
Nikolas Bliatkas
