In the space and in paintings, Cypriot artist George Georgiou uses images as equal to cigarettes, a cactus or a toilet to describe his negative experiences and forget them forever.
Related Articles: Patrick Cambolin: the aesthete of the line, Get to Know Amelia Coward
Kooness: What does your art represent?
George Georgiou: For me it always represents something about my experiences with love, spirituality, life or dreams. I narrate negative personal experiences to bring them back to memory and then cancel them. I operate in a caustic manner and a sarcastic way of creating allegorical narratives that allow me to accept them. I see the whole process as a kind of personal diary made with images and objects so I can publicize and expose it to a broader audience. I become a director and tell my parody, starring objects, images/symbols, among them, occasionally, and my image as equal to that of a cigarette, a cactus, or a toilet. The layout of the paintings on paper works like diary pages, the viewer can read in the order they want to interpret in their way and make their narratives. But the beauty of art is that for one or another it can represent other things that you don’t even imagine because the viewer will fit the art image their own. That’s the beauty of art. It touches or not on what the people most need to see or it doesn’t touch at all and that’s okay too.
K: Who are your biggest artistic influences?
GG: Philip Guston, Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, Yiorgos Lanthimos but mostly everything and my biggest inspirations come from my day-to-day life.
K: What is your favorite medium?
GG: Oil paint is my favourite medium. The way the colors can be blended easily or placed beside another creating an edge is versatile. Higher quality paint, which has more pigment to binder provides vivid colours. Oil paint makes the paint translucent and can be used to glaze one colour over another giving the paint surface depth, and with time I realized that oil paint has endless abilities and outcomes.
K: Describe how art is important to society.
GG: Art is a reflection of society and culture. It helps us understand what we are as human beings and influences how we relate to each other. Art is an expression of our inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It's also an expression of creativity that can be used for self-reflection or social influence. Art is essential as it brings out who we are as individuals and society. It can tell us a lot about our history, culture, and values. Art is not just about making things look pretty. A school can also use it in the education stream on specific essential subject matters. For instance, an artist can make a painting that depicts the effects of war on civilians. It can help raise awareness and educate people about what is happening globally. A simple cartoon drawing can convey so much information to Society.