Influenced by a new construction site across his studio, the artist has been overwhelmed by the geometry, the complex matrixes and synthesis of the site. His works record the image of the manmade landscape. The minimal or implied human presence consists a main structural element in the compositions of these works. Remaining faithful to his color palette, Golemas is not hesitant to create works incorporating the tension between black and white. In “Under Construction” Miltos Golemas is picturing the concept of creation; the making of the “new”.
The writer Zyranna Zateli on the recent work of Miltos Golemas:
“Since the creation of the world… These paintings by Miltos Golemas prompt me to travel back into the mists of time and legends. I see here images, representations, construction plans, sketches and insinuations of plans which urge me to reflect on how that inconceivable Ark of Noah was put together; how much toil went into that Tower of Babel as it grew taller by the day (or “sank” increasingly into its evil fate); or, to cite a Greek example, the bridge of Arta, which had little birds sing that “if it is not haunted by a human soul, no bridge will stand strong” and the wife of the master craftsman shuddered first and above all the others …
“So here we are, standing before Golemas’ paintings: the bowels of the act of building; successive meshes and even enmeshments of planks, wooden beams, “sheathing”, “formwork”, steel rods “waiting” to be built on and a host of similar elements make up a geometry which is perfect and dizzying and risky – a visual wager, I would say, against the artist’s personal “vertigo”. Sturdy, arduous and honest work, inspired from who knows what obsessions and “invisible” images in his mind, it arrives at a result entirely remarkable and unusual; it startles and transfixes us just like – mutatis mutandis – a spider’s web.
“And all around, an abyss… I would like to say a few words about what is probably hiding behind Golemas’ paintings. In early January, when I first looked at them in his studio as pretty much finished works, and while I stood there admiring the vast grids, the details and the many different visible features, I often had the feeling that I was secretly seeing – to the side, behind the works, from this or the other side – a Lake Acherousia, the mythical waterway that led to Hades! A couple of times, I thought to myself that only the Ferryman was missing with his boat – that is to say, unless he was already there without appearing (which he tends to do). A curious gloom, then, a tacit obscurity envelops these robust paintings; a suspicion of the abyss which seems to advocate a “mystical” verse by the poet Manolis Xexakis: that which can be seen hides the darkness.”
ExhibitionWorks
Under Construction, 2017, Mixed media, 153x207 cm
Woodtype, Oil on canvas, 126x162 cm
At the end of the woodtype, Oil on canvas, 45x45 cm
Balance, Oil and sand on canvas, 126x180 cm
Unexpected, Acrylic on handmade paper, 76x106 cm
Care, Acrylic on handmade paper, 775x565 cm
Burning Sun, Acrylic on hanmade paper, 56,5x57,5 cm
Echoe, Ink and acrylic on handmade paper, 29x57 cm
Balancing in the firewood, 2016, Acrylic on handmade paper, 52x75 cm
Exit, Acrylic on handmade paper, 77,6x56,5 cm
Miltos Golemas (b. Athens, 1967) started painting with N. Stefou before he studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under the painter P. Tetsis. His works are part of many private and public collections like, the National Gallery of Greece Collection and the Emfietzoglou Collection. “Sunflowers” is his fifth solo presentation following: “Under Construction” Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, 2017, “Under the Sky”, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, 2011, “Places of Rust and Salt”, Metamorfosi Art Gallery, Thessaloniki, 2008, “Floating Tanks”, Zou...
