Airy paintings of great beauty

THERE he was, sitting in Alpha Gallery earlier in the week as if surrounded by devoted grandchildren.

Now in his eighties his absolutely Eugenios Spatharis had his lovely work all around him.

Here were no tight, illustrative canvases created in a tumble of imaginings so often associated with naive art, but clear, airy paintings of great beauty.

With each painting holding a story but also containing their own in clarity as if Alpha had discovered the very early work of an impressionist of wonderful quality.

Lightness ruled but there was also strength in the precision.

This artist knows his subjects with loving care.

His humour and subjects never upsetting a pure balance. Colour applied with an amazing know how.

Until tomorrow.

Panayi’s White Light

The Ministry of Education and Culture - Cultural Services have sent excellent information on Nicholas Panayi’s entry to the Cairo Biennale.

Petros Dymiotis, Cultural Officer at the Ministry writes: “Nicholas Panayi’s ‘White Light’ serves the Biennale’s theme (The Other) in a suggestive, rather than overt, way.

“The two simultaneously projected activities, Chinese papermaking and Cypriot traditional pastry, couldn’t be more dissimilar in nature. But through Panayi’s unique interpretation, they are elevated to an evocative and almost haunting ritual process.

“With his art Panayi raises fundamental questions concerning intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding between different peoples. Because, if everything every one of us does is, in its most inner essence, so similar to one another, then there is no point in all the war and fighting that are tearing us apart.

“Simply put, Nicholas Panayi’s work reveals the fundamental truth George Lacan once described as ‘The I rises in the field of the Other’.”

Dr Antonis Danos has written in the catalogue on the anxieties of the body: spirituality and eroticism in Nikolas Panayi’s painting.

“The art (mostly, painting) by Nikolas Panayi is anthropocentric; better still it is somatocentric. The human body, specifically, the nude male body constitutes the nucleus and framework, as well as the agent of both the formalistic and the conceptual, thematic and ideological parameters of his art.

“Yet, in spite of his long, constant negotiation of this theme, Panayi’s painting has avoided the trap of mannerism and of barren repetition, due to his equally persistent exploration of form and materials.

“Formalistically. The nude human figure – the epicentre of his work – alludes to the ideal, heroic male nude of Classical Greece and its variations during the Hellenistic era, as well as to the (late 18^th-early 19^th century) European Neoclassicism.

“This very eroticism imbues many of the paintings by Nikolas Panayi: it is an eroticism which is both spiritual and physical, and which is as much ideal and perennial, as it is tangible and contemporary.

Jane Walker writes in “Artist of the Human Being:”

“Nicholas Panayi is an artist of the human figure, encompassing all its physicality, humanity and spirituality. The human being, no less. It is a huge subject which some might call the greatest of challenges – Who are we? Who am I? Why….”

Efklides Papadopoulos at Opus 39

THIS printmaking exhibition has now opened and will continue until the 28th of the month.

Efklides was born in Cyprus in 1962. He studied Graphic Art and specialised in printmaking in South Africa from 1984 to 1987.

Since his return from Africa in 1989, he has worked as a printmaker and video producer.

In 1996 together with other engravers they formed a group of printmakers and with the help of the Ministry of Education and the Hellenic Bank they introduced a model workshop for printmaking. Efkides has participated in many group exhibitions in Cyprus, Greece, France, USA and South Africa.

His new works relate to “focusing mostly on the past, or the future which usually leads to abandoning the present.”

These new works lead to abstract compositions which send out a calm dynamism and through this, the sense of movement and energy to the meaning of time.

The Mill

Years ago the wheat of the Messaorea was collected and carried on donkeys to Kaimakli, where they made flour.

This place still exists, and has been brilliantly converted, keeping its accomplishments in great style. It has also been adapted into a place for art, and on Wednesady (at 7 pm) is the opening of an exhibition by Kaimakli Artists.

Here are the Bakers Dozen of artist exhibiting.

Doros Haraikleous, Tzoulia Astreiou Christoforou, Stella Angelidou, Malvena Middleton, Yiannis Yianakou, Helen Kalotary, Kyriaki Kosta, Maria Perentou, Constantinos Economides, George Kepola, Nicholas Tschopp, Kalliopi Taliadorou and Huws.

Full report next week.