By Giorgos Mitropoulos
Nikos Moschos will travel to the international exhibition of contemporary art, Swab Art Fair 2016, at the end of the month for the second time in the last three years. The young painter already has a very good performance in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Istanbul, Beijing, Brussels, and participates at the Spanish organization, with Ena gallery. The fair takes place in Barcelona from September the 29th to October the 2nd. The artist presents eight paintings entitled «Inevitable Nature».
It is a series of new contemporary urban “landscapes”, which do not reflect a specific time or a specific place. They are an interesting collage of disparate elements that create impressions familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. In this section, the human figure does not hold the dominant, leading role, as was the case until now. On the contrary it is implied: the stigma of human intervention is reflected, sometimes deliberate and necessary and sometimes violent and destructive in the environment.
In this series, the human figure does not hold the central role as in Moschos’ previous work, but is implied by his intervention on the environment. These works seem to be the progress of his previous work and it concerns the relationship between man and natural environment.
As the author himself said: “Changes and fermentations look like they have their own voice in the project. The individual parts look like they struggle to impose another, like geological levels over time. Cause and effect coexist in the same image. Mixing heterogeneous elements, as e.g. rocks, machines and a cream layer is a comment towards cultural development and ongoing relationship survival and organization in the environment.
As man tends to consider himself center of the environment, he transforms it through his point of view. He is seemingly trying to go beyond his animal instincts, but in the end he fails to break free from his inferiority and superiority complexes towards nature. All the joys of progress extinguish and any kind of achievements seem like they serve his innate dominating nature.
Although Moschos' technique rests on the principles and values of traditional painting, the perspective is contemporary. His view is influenced by electronic images provided by multiple cameras, microscopes or drones, which have expanded the horizons beyond the visual scope of the human eye. The layout of elements in various parts are deliberately simplified forms referring to the aesthetics of comics as well as an early, almost childlike perception of nature.
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