Giorgos Kontis
about
Giorgos Kontis explores the tension between passivity and the outward gaze of the material construction of surface that gives rise to feelings related to not knowing the differences that are registered in the encounter of the work. In the most subdued assemblages there is the sense that something lurks beneath: a repressed image or a barely disguised underside indicting an elsewhere. Nothing is quite as it seems in this play of forces and yet the condition of the work appears to retreat into a state of withdrawal that renders mute this brooding passage to elsewhere. Is it that the work is really all in place and is such just there before our eyes and yielding to such eyes with small pleasures that might accrue?
Jonathan Miles
The work of Giorgos Kontis (b.1981 Athens) focuses on abstract painting and on its function as an image. It becomes a contemplation on the autonomy the painted image gains, triggering questions on authenticity and the artistic agency. Giorgos studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, at the Academy of Visual Arts (AdBK) in Munich and at the University of Arts (UdK) in Berlin. He did a MFA at St.Joost Academy in Breda, Netherlands, and he holds a practice based PhD in Painting, from the Royal College of Art in London, on the notion of Authenticity. He lives and works in Berlin and Athens.
artworks
exhibitions
press
An interview of Giorgos Kontis by Dionisis Christofilogiannis
The young artists who insist on creating and slowly leaving their artistic mark in Greece during the financial crisis
videos
40 Athenian Galleries – 40 Artists
An alternative Gallery Walk from Athens Culture Net
An initiative of Athens Culture Net – City of Athens in collaboration with the Hellenic Art Galleries Association and Art Athina