Apostolos Kilessopoulos

"...in the musical architecture of the universe…" (page 1)
by Angeliki Sahini

For Apostolos Kilessopoulos the artistic act is an act of Love which creates a new image of the world. It is an act governed by the dictates of inner necessity, as expressed by Vassily Kandinsky at the beginning of the twentieth century. He also believes that the ideal which a painter should aspire to is a sense of, and ability to control, three-dimensional space. [*] This element, which is always present in Kilessopoulos' works, even in those which -conventionally- are regarded as two-dimensional, becomes more vivid as early as the period 1975-1976 in "Cosmic Landscapes" and the cycles "Nebulae", "Cosmic Maps" and "Fractals", in which his survey of space broadens out. These cycles interweave and in quite a few of his works fractals and Cosmic Maps coincide, as in the work that the painter presented in the exhibition "In memory of Nikos Sahinis" (Fractal, construction, 2000).

The series "Cosmic Landscapes" introduces a new subject-matter into Kilessopoulos' painting. The system of laws governing the cosmic landscape is totally different from that governing the urban or natural type and its structure obeys a system of geometry with new laws, as the linear or Euclidean system ceases to apply. The horizon is done away with and spherical form, movement and rotation become the dominant characteristics. From "Cosmic Landscapes" he moves on to "Nebulae" (distant galaxies or groups of galaxies), in an attempt to realize as "broad" a landscape as possible and to view an extensive area and the elements which intersect within that area. To a third phase belong "Cosmic Maps" and the "Fractals" or Thraphsta, as Yiannis Papaioannou ingeniously called them The "Fractals", products of the Theory of Chaos, fractional but autonomous structures, are the reflections of small, infinitesimal entities in infinity, as is expressed in "Cosmic Maps". It ought to be noted that the painter had begun to investigate "fractals" by instinct, long before he studied the Theory of Chaos. In "Cosmic Maps" the structures are more complex and there is an attempt to map out the cosmos, as far as this is possible, so that man can find his place in the universe and not remain merely a spectator. It could be said the "Fractals" and "Cosmic Maps" endlessly repeat themselves, creating and defining space, with structures that provide codes for their interpretation.

The raw materials for the measurement of space are the systems of lines and dots that the artist uses. They possess matter and substance and reveal images of the non-material but unfailingly real world. The discovery of the ineffable, the plotting of the immeasurable vastness of space through the revelation of his innate system of geometry opens up avenues for a fresh contemplation of the universe through a new outlook on the world.

The third dimension has always existed in Kilessopoulos' works. As an innate quality in his two-dimensional works, it was represented in shades of colour that gave height and depth to each work. Later, through the use of additional elements, such as paper, reliefs were created, and the real third dimension was introduced, whose substance was determined by the nature of the materials. The addition of real space and ultimately its identification with artistic space also takes place in his environments and installations. Typical examples of these are "Exodus" (1987) and "The Mill-wheel" (1989), as well as the outdoor mural on the lecture theatre of the Polytechnic School at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1989), which was rounded off with cables and metallic elements projecting into space.

The painter admits that he would like his works "to be able to float in space, without supports" and that this "might be possible with the use of lasers". The inability of material to remain unsupported in mid-air is solved -partly- by his use of transparent sheets, which create this illusion. He therefore creates multi-layered works, using sheets placed very close together. However, these tiny distances of 2 or 3 centimetres give the work another dimension. It ought to be pointed out that the sheets are worked on at the same time and so the elements on all levels all work together, structurally and as a painting.

[*] This study is based chiefly on the discussions I had with the artist in his studio in July 2000. The title has been taken from the poem by Nikiforos Vrettakos entitled "The unsealing of things". See Nikiforos Vrettakos, Odoiporia, Poiemata 1958-1967 (Diogenes Pubs., Athens 1972), p. 259.

• 35th DEMETRIA FESTIVAL. CITY OF THESSALONIKI, 2000