22. 05. 2021
After the several pandemic lockdowns, the opening exhibition of Lefteris Tapas at NIMAC's beautiful space appeared as a breather in my monotonous and isolated postpartum routine.
On entering the exhibition, my first impression was of the artworks being thoughtfully and specifically placed to create an atmosphere of ancient symbolism;innate imprints in our collective unconscious. The creative representations of the moon, sea waves, rocks, mountains, forests, islands and the night sky, opened an intrapersonal tunnel of the unknown and uninhabited corners of our wildly perplexed minds. It was clear that the artwork was positioned to represent the slow and ever-changing cycles of day and night.
Looking at Lefteris’ work, I had the feeling of being transported into the artist’s shelter (studio) in the midst of winter, somehow meeting the artist in a space of deep rationalisation and emotional catharsis; the experience embodied a contemplation on collective and personal concerns. I could get a sense of the intensive and focused labour, whilst Tapas gave form to paper cut-outs, textured surfaces and thorough decision-making on the earthly colour pigments and installing the many handmade variations in his work. The art is a meditation on material and form, making and composition. The art pieces although scattered around the gallery as a unified concept did not just stand at that but rather carried around the absence of their maker’s hand.
In one of the rooms, the sound of rain and wind coming from the film work placed me into a psychological forest as the hanging sheets of paper cut-outs resembled the dark shadows of intertwined tree branches and the large wall piece, also a black paper cut-out, reminded me of Rorschach inkblots. I stayed there for a while, exploring how deep into the forest I could make myself be, and as I watched the repetitive movements of handmade paper within a circle that mimicked the full moon's ethereality, I felt its gravity on an emotional level.
In all the works I found the resemblance of nature astonishing. Recently, whilst driving through the Cypriot mountains, I noticed the myriad layers of mountains, clouds, trees, and how the light seemed to emerge through, fall behind and reappear above. That’s when I had glimpse of what the artist must have seen, the aliveness and wholeness of the co-existing natural elements that he had successfully implemented and interpreted through his creations.
With the help of the artist the conscious spectator gains an existential gaze; the phenomenon of “Night” becomes one with esoteric thoughts and dreams while “Day” calls us to see nature anew.
