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"...in
the musical architecture of the universe…" (page
3) |
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| Painting is often regarded as a static, motionless art, but in Kilessopoulos' works movement has always been an important parameter. It is a mental form of movement which obeys internal laws and is governed by form and colour, and not a form of movement that is mechanically produced. In his works movement is rhythm, as in music; it is a dramatic element, in the double sense of action and drama. It is an internal movement that can be felt when the power of a shape or colour forces the eye to roam over the work and the viewer has the sensation that he is actually inside the artistic space.
The movement of the eye from one point to another, from a solid mass to a gap and vice versa, reinforces this impression. In the works that hang in space there may also be outward movement, which is produced by the action of external factors, such as the wind. This movement, however, is in no way an essential feature of his artistic proposition, as it occurs in the works of other artists, such as those of Alexander Calder. The use of lasers in some of the "Fractals" is considered essential because laser is an immaterial medium which possesses the potential to produce movement, an element that can reveal the geometry which is already known to the soul and the spirit but unperceived by the eyes. Movement always involves a space-time vector, since it provides a sensation of displacement and multiple positions.
The visual arts are capable of giving shape to time through images, sound and motion. Indeed, in some subject areas such as portraiture, or currents such as happenings, this formative process is particularly conspicuous. Music, on its part, gives time a real, floating quality; although it does not possess colour, it is possible for us to sense colours when we listen to music. Also, there is often talk of sounds and the musicality of colours. In Kilessopoulos' works the melody of colour has always been perceptible and he himself regards himself as more of a painter of sound and time than space. Time prepossesses him and its expression has always been one of his basic preoccupations. Not, however, the expression of personal time, since his art is not concerned purely with the artist's personal experiences. Kilessopoulos also views time as a non-existent entity, on the level of a Nirvana, that is, where space and time cease to exist. He himself speaks of a metaphysical dimension of time, which transcends the narrow view we have - in terms of space and time - firstly of ourselves and then, by extension, of our present, finite lives. Referring to the lines by T.S. Eliot: "Time present
and time past He speaks of a condensed and dramatic form of time, as expressed in Eliot's poetry, poetry which he admits "deeply influenced his development his as a painter and as a thinker". In Kilessopoulos's performances, time is measurable, and fixed by the artist up until the last second. The flow of time is expressed in the movements of those who are seeking to interpret it, movements that are not random but predetermined by the artist himself, since they follow the music, which forms an integral part of the action. The artist is the orchestrator of the whole drama and has complete control over it, while there is an identification between real and artistic time for as long as the action lasts. In his latest works, such as the "Fractals", the artist becomes an interpreter of the drama, conceiving of and giving shape to time of an entirely different flow and quality. Time here is no longer the fixed time of the type that occurs in his performances, nor is it the real time in its static, solidified state, time that has elapsed, of the type that can be read in the rings of a fossilized tree, in the age of a rock. In the "Fractals" time is infinite, incorruptible, a form of time that exists independently of human activity, although humans exist within it and are defined by it. Gaps and solids vary in form from work to work and through the material and immaterial parts of the works varying versions of the same space and time are revealed. The presentation of themes in a space-time context that occurs in Kilesspoulos' works possesses its equivalent in literature. An example is "The Alexandrian Quartet" by Lawrence Durrell, a work in which the writer presents, through the mouths of different characters, on different levels and from different viewpoints, the same situations and events. The threads of the narratives, which present different aspects of the same tale, interweave and compose images, set in time and space, in the mind and soul of the reader. It ought to be made clear, though, that the space-time continuum here is of a different quality to that in the "Fractals", since it can actually be fixed and determined in terms of place and time. In the "Fractals", on the other hand, the space-time continuum transcends the limitations of 'time and place, despite the fact that it becomes a material phenomenon and acquires visible and tangible form. If we recall Paul Klee's saying that the essence of painting is to make the invisible visible, we can easily see that Apostolos Kilessopoulos' works bear out these words completely. Perhaps the painter's greatest contribution lies in the fact that by giving shape to images of the immaterial world he makes them visible, he becomes our guide in paths that we would never ourselves have followed and he opens the door to an exhilarating and uplifting world, raising above the level of the individual and the corruptible anyone who wishes to commune with his work. Angeliki Sahini [*] From T.S. Eliot's poem Burnt Norton. See T.S. Eliot, Ta Poiemata 1909-1962 (Exantas Pubs., Athens, 1994, translated by L.K. Vatakas with illustrations by A. Kilessopoulos), p. 303. |
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