Christos Charisis

My work is distinguished by the contradiction of different elements. The “chairs” series places the individual in front of objects incorporating human features. The chairs turn into bodies. Inactive matter comes to life but also acquires an identity; the useful object turns into a symbol. In my following work I turn chair-material into bodies. In a photo-performance I “wear” these bodies. Suffering or elderly bodies, scars, tattoos and breasts shout that we all are what we have loved, connected to and touched. “We are the others”. Without any intention of monumentization, I present the human body’s stripped down version; it’s worn out version. Passing from installations to painting, I re-negotiate our childish and therefore adult fears. Through tragic irony, children’s innocence is placed in an off-world scenery on the canvas.  In my last paintings I isolate -through my cell-phone’s camera- various urban images and then I paint them. The presentation of this recent work takes place through an installation that consists of 11 coloured paintings of urban scenery, a black/white still-life painting and a self-portrait; thus I create a triangle between my every-day life, art and myself.

                                                                                             Christos Charisis