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International Art Treasures Web Magazine May 2006 |
Steven Papadopoulos
Steven Papadopoulos was included in the recent exhibit showing the talent of the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) students in Elixir 2006 at the Steam Whistle Gallery. The work he showcased was called Tria Megalos Mygas which he explains translates to "Three Large Flies", though using the Greek title because my background is Greek." He pointed out that, "encaustic is a Greek word meaning to burn in. That's not why I gave it that title. Many times the title deals with me but in this case even though I'm of Greek descent I don't know much Greek. It's a way of my learning. It adds an air of mystery to it. People tend to read a painting based on its title, but when they don't understand what it's saying it confuses them, until I tell them it's three large flies, then its obvious. Many times people will look at it and say 'it's three large flies' unaware that they are actually saying the title of the work. It's a straight forward account of a fly. It's 8 x 6 making it my largest painting and an encaustic. It's also a charcoal." "That piece is meant to create some luminosity, some space between the fly itself and what is in the background. I used the multiple grids to represent a lot of things. It reminds me of a screen or a fly trap of some sort. It is an abstract version of some entity that is capturing the fly, perhaps even a spider web. The idea is to give it a grid lock feel. The colors I used are simple with a limited range. The colors that I use tend to be 1950's early home appliances. That probably has to do with my environment as my apartment has a 1950s decor."
They are the basis of how I work: without it I wouldn't be able to do many of the things I can do in painting. I use the translucency in the wax, that's a good quality of it, and it enables me to keep the layers. I don't want it to be plastic. I build textures from underneath. I use strips to make the fly to give it an anatomy as though it could jump up or have a dynamic. A fly is fascinating when one looks up close and I want that feel in the creation of the fly." Steven discussed his final thesis for OCAD. "My thesis project is something that has happened in the past. In my third year I did a project based on examining a certain subject, whether it be textures, fabrics, organic matter, plants and so on. At that time I choose the fly, something that was lurking around my apartment; an everyday house fly."
He adds, "From that we had to examine it and use a multitude of studies and techniques to create a series. After I completed my series I then did it in encaustic. I discovered this technique that I liked and it became a fascination for me. It has nothing to do with science, it is dealing with perception, just how some things when they are illuminated are easily recognizable. They notice it and it becomes part of their life and so forth. The fly doesn't have a strong symbolic meaning in the sense it is not some deep thought about who I am. There isn't a hidden message. Something about this insect is very dark and even painting it is different to work with. It's a fly. It's not something you can beautify. My images are not necessarily beautiful, I don't try to add colors that aren't there. My palette is not a wide range. The colors are not meant to beautify but to intrigue the viewer. It's a fly, it's something disgusting and dirty, so minimal and yet it is attracting a viewer." He points out that because it's his thesis, "it's always in my head." Steven finds that he puts it in other works. "It always seems to lurk in my pictures, it's in some of my figurative work now. I will put it in some of my figurative drawings, for example, on the shoulder of a figure. It's ironic that like a fly it's bothering me in some sense but it is constantly in my mind. Much of it has to do with movement, space and grids to give a sense of trapping of the fly. It's a personal narrative that I'm trying to catch the fly. It's a light- hearted attitude towards it, knowing that a fly bothers people sometimes but it's just something so little." "I started at OCAD nearly four years ago, waiting a few years before beginning my art studies. I'm 26 now. I traveled through Europe to visit the galleries and get a sense of where I want to go." For Steven, "painting has always been something for me ever since the end of high school. At that time I originally wanted to get into illustration but once I went to Europe I became more interested in the traditional methods of painting. A lot of my training has been with traditional methods like the classical ways of painting with oils. Now, because of my thesis, I tend to expand my oeuvre but I still go back and forth using classic and modern methods. I bring back a lot of the painting methods and techniques and bring them into a new way in my encaustics."
"The Blue Fly was the one that started my work with the grid. This year I found that my work took from other artists. One of my instructors, Paul, pointed out that my work resembled that of Terry Winters. I checked out his work and really liked it. A lot of it ties into the same in terms of a grid and charcoal and different spectrums. After seeing it in his work I started using a grid in this one and took it to the extremely large piece. I'm still working on this one."
"I took a figurative painting course and the final project was to do a self portrait in a series of three. I choose to do it in sequence. I fogged up the mirror in my bathroom and wiped part of it away. I then took a few photographs. Some parts are clear while some are fogged up and in the picture I am brushing my teeth. You can see that I am looking at something that appears in the third image and what captures my attention is a large fly. The pictures are blurry with the third being the clearest of them all. It also plays around with size, is the fly that big or is it because there is a shadow? My favorite painters right now, besides Terry Winters, are Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and Tony Sherman. In this work it has a feel of Francis Bacon, how he distorted figures. I incorporated it into my thesis. Figurative has always been an interest from the beginning. I love doing it."
The tools that I use are a blow torch and sometimes an iron but I have to be careful not to burn the wax and it's very toxic. I scrape back sometimes creating new shapes and patterns that will take it back to the under drawing. I use a strip of canvas this time. In my work I usually cover the entire thing in canvas or use a wood background. All of them are wood supported but sometimes I cover them with canvas given I like the texture. Charcoal and paint on top catches nicely sometimes and when the paint soaks in it creates another grid which works well. For this one I choose to use a partial canvas. I wanted to use both elements, try something new, and to give the idea of fly tape. It's not supposed to be fly tape but it works with it in that sense and gives it that 'caught' feel to it. Some of the fly goes off it but most of it is consumed. It has a familiar feel to it, things that you might find in your bathroom." Steven expects to graduate from OCAD and continue to develop his artistic talents! |
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