[ɡwaʃ] π 1 Painting

Greek artist. Born in Germany. Studied photography,painting and art history in Italy and the Netherlands. If a Zen Buddhist is asked to give a definition of Zen, he would answer: When I'm tired, I sleep. When I'm hungry, I eat. I'm not asking myself why I paint. It is a necessity such as loving, having a conversation, mourning, arguing or moving. There is a moment where I have to begin a painting and there is a moment where I have to stop. These are crucial moments, they determine not only where the journey goes but even how. They decide if the emergence will come easily or will come with a lot of suffering and insecurity. The preparation has a particular significance. The construction of the frame, the priming of the canvas is almost an act of liturgy. This is the time when I start getting connected with the painting.These are the only moments in which I consciously determine the anatomy of the painting. What comes next is not only subject to my own will.One point determines the next, one line the next, one colour the next.The biggest challenge is to permit the unforeseen. The accumulation of the acts of painting, determined by the already existing, and I become a tool of the act itself. It paints. It is strenuous to permit things to happen on the canvas out of my control. The abstraction of things indoctrinated by education and society. To overcome filters our brain allegedly needs to secure our survival.The trust in the entirety that we cannot seize rationally, but feel intuitively.The whole becomes more than the sum of the parts. Fear of the unknown is a constant companion in my work. The destruction of already created in order to open up new spaces feels like pain, however it is liberating at the same time.The images that result are a language which tells a story in different ways. Everyone his own. Every time another. http://maya-boutique-hotel.ch