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Artist Exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions
2009
Morfi Gallery, Limassol,
Cyprus
Tsatsis Projects/Artforum,
Thessaloniki, Greece
2008
ekfrasi-yianna grammatopoulou,
Athens, Greece
2007
Galerie Argo, Nicosia, Cyprus
Atrion, Heraklio/Crete, Greece
Architecture Studio Zoe
Antoniadi, Athens, Greece
2006
Galerie Christina Karella,
Athens, Greece
Morfi Gallery, Limassol,
Cyprus
Lucia Vassiliadis, Patmos,
Greece
Trigono Gallery, Kifissia/...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
ekfrasi-yianna grammatopoulou,
Athens, Greece
T: +30-210 3607598
info@ekfrasi-art.gr
Astrolavos Art Galleries,
Athens & Piraeus, Greece
T: +30-2107221200, 4
Email:gallery@astrolavos.gr
Galerie Zita-Mi, Thessaloniki,
Greece
T: +30-2310270636
Gallery Chrysa, Katerini,
Greece
T: +30-2351073252
Email: info@gallerychrysa.gr
Trigono Gallery,
Kifissia/Athens, ...
Further Information
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Artist Reviews:
Reviews - Critics –
Bibliography - Catalogues
(s.e) Solo Exhibitions (g.e)
Group Exhibitions
• mag. ECHOS & Hi Fi, Athens,
11/81
• catalogue g.e- 8th Bienal
Internacional del Deporte en
las
Bellas Artes, Madrid,
82
• N.Grigorakis, ‘V.
Karakatsanis’, mag. Ikastika
(43-45),
Athens, 85
• cataloque s.e- ‘Aragün 249’
Kifissia,...
Further Information
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Collections:
Collections - Museums
• Municipal Art Gallery of
Rhodes – Museum of Modern
Greek Art, Rhodes, Greece
• Orthodox Academy of Crete,
Hania, Greece
• Municipal Art Gallery of
Corfu, Corfu, Greece
• Fundaciün FPPU, Montevideo,
Uruguay
• Fundaciün Joan Mirü, Parc de
Montjuic, Barcelona, Spain
• Palacio de Cristal, Retiro,
Madrid, Spain
• E & Cultural Department...
Further Information
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Statement for Vassilis Karakatsanis
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‘Urban Behaviours’ > ‘ÁóôéęÝň ÓőěđĺńéöďńÝň’
‘Comportamientos Urbanos’ 2007/2008
Catalogue 2/2008 ATHENS
Behaviours are defined and formed within the time they occur as well as the cultural, political and “arbitrary” conjunctures of our developing civilization. Accepted or not, depending on the longitude and latitude they appear, the material of their clothing, the accent of the protagonists or the social codes, they never fail to reflect the individuals and define class, roles, values and missions, ethical or unethical, in our virtually “Roman” society.
Karakatsanis approaches this reality in an unadorned, straightforward and caustic manner. Vanity, carnalism and mixing of values reflect in the eyes and the bodies of the assembled people who constitute the body of his work whereas the repeated presence of the chair refers to the urban environment.
His subject matter is realization, deadlock and hypocrisy, with which, without any trace of intellectualism, he expresses his anguish using very few materials. He does not suggest a solution, yet he demonstrates a mirror in which we can all see our real self or our innermost fantasies, if we so wish.
The middle class, particularly that of the western world, has led people’s perspective towards a comfortable life, aesthetically more decent and possibly happier, even though more often than not it has been deservedly attacked by the have-nots, unfortunately, in their majority, without having political views or providing an essential counter-proposal for the social model they would like to live.
This is apparent in most of the cases that whenever the domination of “progressiveness” has prevailed over conservatism and the reversal of distinguishing people through the primary inequalities of bourgeoisie lifestyle and way of thinking, the thrill and hope that it has brought towards a society of equal and adaptable citizens, far from the clich&<233;s of urbanism, has resulted through enrichment and gaining power in the reproduction of all bourgeois “evils” in a most inelegant manner.
As if most of them were eventually dreaming of a living room with a chandelier, money and a very expensive shining car even in neighbourhoods with dirt roads as confirmation of their raison d’&<234;tre.
Karakatsanis risks his involvement in a socio-political debate. However, painting and art in general has to create aesthetic parameters both from its own material and from the “thesis” of identification of its content.
Karakatsanis’s artistic integrity encourages the discussion between the viewer and the work or even better between the viewer and the viewer.
In times that values, culture and meritocracy are unconventional terms to reality, particularly within societies that are exploring their developmental pace, after the change of their standard of living, art might be one of the few areas that through “beauty” the shape of our flaws can be projected, an area in which Karakatsanis is utterly successful.
Jaume Mir, Palma de Mallorca, 2/2008
President of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Mallorca
By PEDRO A. SERRA y BAUZA
Motifs, textures and qualities, develop on the canvas, like armchairs, clothes, umbrellas, carpets. Almost always clothing materials.
Materials of urban concept, undoubtedly controversial with specific reasoning in the past, however subconsciously desired by so many.
Clothing materials that define someone’s class, undoubtedly bring up scepticism concerning the power of our stage-designing and clothing conclusions with a deadline through the passage of time. At the same time, they raise doubts concerning the value of many controversies within the dream for a society more substantial and more just.
Our primitivism, our relation to matter and, all the more, to its particular expressions, will contribute in a way that, in addition to the awe, the smile will have to be often included, I’m afraid, in the conclusions of future scholars about man.
Experienced space, time and materials mingle in such a way that on the one hand we have the given visual product and on the other hand the critical, universal approach to human existence with discreet irony, I would say, through its passions and consumer necessities.
Karakatsanis speaks about something he knows very well, trying to keep the balance between the description and the conceptual disposition to put forward views about the urban landscape.
Once more, he reflects an experiential relationship with what he embarks on, code messages in a diary, views, queries, secret or unconcealed fetishes.
It is a humanistic approach, with the human figure missing, like in most of the series in the past, as it is the target itself (cities 1985), (bags 1986), (imprints 1987), (clothes 1989), (houses 1989), (carpets 1991), (flags 1992), (Vathis sq. 2001), (on wall 2003), (G8+? 2003), (netting 2004).
The human figure complementary appears on canvas and is illustrated more, I would say, in the series (party 1996) and (sarong 1998).
Karakatsanis implies and does so in a straightforward way. Thus he engages the viewer in a second and third evaluation of his work, taking risks, with the hasty conclusions entertained by the “syndrome” of the meaning or the fast and superficial choice of familiar, stereotyped, post-modern titles.
The painter here, and I hope in the future too, does not drift into brashness or loud statements that will possibly be quickly revised tomorrow. He avoids in a refined and responsible way, his affiliation to the “devoted” obsession with putting forward questions and conclusions that, I’m afraid, do not interest people, who will eventually appreciate the project and are the source of inspiration.
Identifiable and plain artistic monochrome expression that permeates the canvas, stage designing in the form of “installation of two dimensions” and clear elements of new realism and pop.
The visual product is optimistic, which I do not see often in art nowadays and his materials are simple, identifiable and mature. He knows very well his field and, most notably, how to handle it.
Although I tend to disregard the artist’s nationality, I’d hazard the guess that Karakatsanis originates acts and expresses through purely original European aesthetic media, which is important, typical and defies time, in a universal artistic market, which desperately needs originality and the artist’s individual expression.
Visual arts are not the medium through which fashion can bulldoze aesthetic differences, personalities or honest expression. What is intriguing is that all of us, in our Levi’s jeans, promote the diversity in our being, our national, ideological and social differences, with authenticity and realisation of the rules of the tough aesthetic challenge.
Palma de Mallorca, 5 February 2005
Pedro A. Serra y Bauzá
Chairman of the "Es Baluard" Foundation of the Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Palma de Mallorca
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contact artist
