MARIA CALLAS 100 Years 3 Dec 1923-2023 Print

ALEXANDROS KAPRARAS 14/03/1962 15 East Hill HA9 9PT The artist’s works consist of Drawings, Paintings, Sculptures and Installations. Much of his inspiration is drawn from life experiences, religious, spiritual, cultural influences and the subject matter itself. The coloured portraits with water drops by the artist demonstrate that. Traditional icons and frescoes of saints in the Greek Byzantine tradition are formal in composition, limited in palette of colours on a flat background. Similarly, the artist’s series of coloured portraits with water drops defining the subject are also formal and set on a bold flat wash of bright or primary colour. However, this is not a copy of the old. It uses heritage in a new, challenging and creative way, the work is almost reductive, seemingly incomplete. It invites and engages the viewer to join the dots, complete the picture. The drawing draws you in and into the finer details of each drop exquisitely drawn with ethereal qualities. The drops seems transient perhaps a comment on the transient nature of things. The same techniques were used to depict maps and flags of countries. This need to engage, challenge and converse with the viewer is at the heart of the artist’s work. A pair of surrealist bright sculptural plastic and organic shapes set in a gravity defying way in glass box can be interpreted as a couple but here too there are other hidden layers of meaning. Get closer and view the sculpture from the top, the couple has dripped, flowed and morphed into the profile of a person (an off-spring) at the base. The element of surprises, the use of playful metaphors are games that the artist uses in some of his works. Colourful fishes in lieu of balls set on a pool table could be a reflection on society: predators and prey. Ordinary, everyday items such as tooth brushes, marbles, Lego blocks and figurine toy soldiers suddenly takes on a new and different meaning. A trio of rusty toothbrushes set under a rusty pitched roof becomes metaphor for a family. ‘Ready-made’ are used in a creative, matured and playful way: juxtaposing little innocent lego kids as support to a prostrate body with toy soldiers running amok above. A delightful invitation to a personal interpretation. Pencil drawings by the artist are both refreshing and unique in style.