Christakis Polydorou

Born In Chloraka Pafos in 1960. 1982 – 1987: Studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, under Moralis and Mitaras. 1990 – 1991: Studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, having received a scholarship from the French Government (Prix Matisse) with Velickovic as his tutor. During his scholarship he lived and worked in the Cite Internationale Des Artes.

Since the antiquity, the respective roles of the painter and sculptor were clearly distinguished. In a few words, the artist was either exclusively a painter or exclusively a sculptor. This line of distinction was strictly followed until the 19th century and the various movements which sprouted through the course of all those years, focused on the difference between the expression of the two media. But in the art of the 20th century, this line, which distinguishes painting from sculpture, began to thin out, the boundaries becoming blur and gradually disappearing. Painting, as a means of expression, is now brushed aside and what is presented and promoted in the great international exhibitions and galleries is exactly this abridgement of the boundaries of the two media. Always of course with minor exceptions.

Cyprus could not of course digress from this trend. In the art of recent artists, rarely does one see novel, vivid and contemporary art. One of the few exceptions is Christakis Polydorou who is one of the most significant figures of contemporary Cypriot art. Because, Polydorou is a classic painter but also absolutely contemporary. Classic (and traditional perhaps) in the materials he uses, onto which he pours out his thoughts, his very soul: the frame, the paper, the pencil and the brush. This is al he needs to create. At the same time he is also a renovator: a renovator in his visual communication vocabulary.

Furthermore the visual language Polydorou uses is so clear and lucid but also so open and unconcealed, that is easily conquered by the viewer who is free to give it shape according to his own learning and sensitivities, indeed according to his own memories. A visual language with roots that reach deep into man’s soul.

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