Nicholas Stavri

Nicholas draws and paints from the inside out. Though he works quite deliberately, consciously employing both traditional and modern techniques, his unconscious is the undeniable project manager. The concrete, repetitive nature of drawing from a photograph frees his imagination and provides many opportunities for new ways of applying colour to grace and influence the finished piece when painting.

The series of flat almost faceless portraits deny the viewer intimate connection with subject, obscuring the emotion and questioning the importance of the whole process of portraiture itself as a presentation of identity. In isolating the subject within the picture plane and encircling it within a considerable amount of space he creates large areas of negative space for the viewer. This is the key to these paintings. The isolation of the subject helps in expressing a detachment of value from the things that maintain social cohesion and the devaluing of things in life that are important to the artist. The pictures frame is also a metaphor for entrapment and in appearing as the view from the lens of a closed-circuit television camera, also reflects the intrusive systems that surround us throughout our day-to-day lives.

 

Nicholas Stavri
Untitled

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