PAINTING
Begging your indulgence for a while. I’ll make a short retrospection into the work of Paschalis Angelides for the sake of his New Admires.
Up to now, Paschalis Angelides has gone into four distinct periods of painting in his work:
The Era of Creation (the titles are mine)
During this period, he experiments mostly with abstract themes in which colour and shape struggle both in mind and in execution to attain form.
The Era of Theogony
An austere and allomy period in which the amputated limbs and malformations of the torsos and the heads strive to be free from memories of murder and ritual cannibalism. Here the colour and the shape, even the background and the frame, are united and inseparable. The governing theme all through is Melancholia, dark, depressing and dramatic.
A widely prolonged period at the Zenith of which is the Grand Exhibition at Wigmore Fine Arts London. Both Gods and Heroes are now expurgated from the sin of insets and matricide. They float nonchalant in honey bright light clocked in the assurance of their own significance, indifferent of their imperfections and vices as they strut peacock like on the terraces of ilium. The background and frame are only there to balance harmony.
A strong impression is given that this period illustrates the human Tragedy something which is probably done intentionally.
Here the figure has broken away from the realm of legend and has become substance and although the bodies are still an anatural metallic color they are complete and act within the circle of human behaviour. The colors are warmer. For the first time there appear fruits and flowers that are not simply there for ritual purposes. We distinguish human feelings such as just and passion, even humour, which is a very elusive element in previous works of Angelides.
In finishing, I must warn: my rather simplified explanation of Angelides work should not put you at easy. Decoding his work remains difficult and obscure. Most works persist to perturb us. we venture like acrobats on a razors edge with symbolism on one side and surrealism on the other. Fall either side and you are lost: straight ahead, What? I can’t tell and Angelides keeps silent.
The only constant is Angelides work is his «Greekness». A true deep Greekness like that of Dikeopolis, like that Karangiozis, like that of Zorba: no compromises. Let me assure you that it was the Westermers who substituted the Hellenic with the Hellenistic, probably because the Greek spirit was too elusive for them to grasp. Easterners fell more at easy in the Greek Manner (Hellenistic) because it makes room for the ornate and the superfluous, qualities they confuse for the sublime light of the Greek Spirit.
DIMITRI PANDELIDIS