By Mary Adamopoulou
The young visual artist presents 46 works in an introspective exhibition in Heraklion, where his journey began, taking him as far as New York and Singapore.
He returns to the place where he made his very first drawings and received the first stimuli that set in motion his adventure in the world of art. On that land, in Heraklion, Crete, he is now preparing to return to stage an introspective exhibition: to present 46 works he has painted from 2012 to the present, 10 of which are very recent creations that have not yet left his studio.
“There is indeed a romantic dimension to this exhibition, as if I am going to show the course of a particular period of my work to friends and fellow countrymen. It is also a good opportunity to gather works that have been sold without having been exhibited, which is why several works come from collections located in Greece and abroad. At the same time, it is also a test for me, because seeing all the works gathered together gives me the chance to weigh the past against the present and to see which of the things I did were sincere, which had meaning,” says 40-year-old Nikos Moschos to Prosopa, whose works can be found from Athens to New York and Singapore.
Why did he choose 2012 as the milestone for the presentation “Marginally Human”, which is organized by the Region of Crete and the Municipality of Heraklion?
“Because that was the year my work took a different turn, which went through various phases. I realized that the intensity that existed in my sketches calmed down when I reached the canvas, and for that reason I began to place the elements as they appeared in their raw form in my thought. Until 2016, my compositions were like statues ready to explode. Today I maintain the fragmentariness of the form with a different maturity, without continuous explosions, because I myself now reflect differently, I define life in another way. Of course, my love for cinema also played a role, as there was always the sense in my work that I was creating storyboards. The narrative element in my art is strong, which is why the dialogue with cinema and comics — the two quintessential narrative art forms — is to be expected,” explains Nikos Moschos, who developed an almost cradle-deep relationship with painting, as his inclination was reinforced by his father, a conservator of works of art and an icon painter.
Was this the reason he did not follow the “sirens” of other media of expression, such as installations or videos that have gained ground in recent decades?
“I could have turned to another medium besides painting, but I believe that the notion that painting is dead appears to me as an immaturity that is not so innocent. I was born in Europe and I cannot ignore its cultural past. Painting is a form of language; it is not the idea it carries. When there is confusion between idea and medium, I believe it happens with ulterior motives, and I have come to understand that some dominant theories serve only economic interests,” he concludes.