INTERVIEW: Dimitris Kiriakos-The Power Of Silence

Dimitris Kiriakos belongs to the artists who work a lot and in depth in the field of abstract painting, which although it seems easy, we all know that it is one of the most difficult, hence to be good someone needs to be very conscious. Also, what attracts me in his case is that while he is between science and art – psychiatry and painting – he is contained and contained within it, he completes and finally finishes without having spoken much, since the power of silence in his work is the strongest of all (!) On the occasion of his first solo exhibition in Athens and Art Zone 42 Gallery we unravel the narrative’s thread…

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Dimitris Kiriakos Archive

Although painting experienced a significant crisis in the past, in the recent years has returned to the international scene even more dynamically. Some believe it is a result of the economic crisis, while others think it was never overcome. What is your opinion?

The function of the art is always systemic. Art comes to serve the system by expressing what the system needs to be expressed at any particular historic moment. And by system I mean the human ecosystem. I think the return of art and paintings in particular is very much related to global crises concerning human civilization and the failure of speech as a means of communication. Nowadays it is a challenge to be human in your true essence, to co-exist, co-create, collaborate and communicate instead of reacting or being silent.

Abstraction, a very challenging field of expression, although it seems easy. It is an intermediate time that freezes and encapsulates exactly what is not said or cannot be said. Through your painting, what do you want to reveal to the viewer, and what not?

I start with what I might want to hide from the viewer and the answer is nothing. The aim of my painting is only to reveal, make an image of what cannot be put into words and discuss in this way the unconscious human psyche, the individual – personal and the systemic – social. I started my painting adventure with the goal and vision of depicting unconscious human psychological landscapes. Emotions, traumatic situations, relationships, ourselves and our experiences and much more. To paint all the things that make up who we are and define what we are becoming but are not visible to the eye.

Your artworks approach and touch upon the boundaries of Gerhard Richter’s painting, known to us that he is a great master and an inspiration for you to paint again. Do you fear this proximity, and how much does it influence you?

I am not at all afraid of being close to either Master Richter or any other artist who could be among my influences. I have already said that my main influences are Gerhard Richter, Miles Davis and the French Psychoanalytic School. Richter’s work is a legacy, the history of a technique and a philosophy about visual arts without precedent and often an inspiration for my own creations. We are two people in two different historical moments who each have their own stories to tell on the canvas. I wish I could be as creative and alternative as he is.

Color is one of the dominant elements in your work. Does it encapsulate and represent your emotions?

In the psychoanalytic way of interpreting artworks, color always speaks of emotion. But that’s what we humans are, emotions that affect everything and our actions more than we understand. The artworks are mine and therefore the colors represent my own feelings. Emotions with which, as in any work of art, some viewers will identify and through my works they will consciously or unconsciously read and relive their own stories.

Observing your artworks closely and knowing that you are also involved in music, we perceive the poetic and compositional elements of music.

Music lives in everything, so it would be unnatural not to be in my works as well. Music also attempts to express what cannot be put into words and harmonize our everyday life. Like the visual work, it aims at a psychological transformation, which will provide relief and delight. I have a venture in mind where I will marry music and painting but it is still in the inspiration stage.

Finaly, what remains unspoken for you in art? Does the mystery of silence captivates you on this journey?

Silence is a form of communication. Lacan says that the letter that has reached its final recipient is the one that has never been sent. Perfect communication is what we express and hide from others because in the end it only concerns us. In art, the artwork concerns first the creator and then the viewers. The artwork that the viewers see through their own perspective concerns them first and then the creator. And all this is done in silence.

Download Greek version here.

Info: Artzone 42 Gallery, 42 King Constantine Avenue, Athens, Greece, Duration: 1/12/2023-5/1/2024, Days & Hours: Tue, Thu-Fri 15:00-21:00, Wed, Sat 11:00-15:00, www.artzone42.gr/