Paris Giachoustidis

Paris Giachoustidis is a precise observer of his environment, either in person, or on the media. His critical practice objectifies the semiology and the culture. Which kind of culture? for sure not only from his own land. His work scrutinizes the virtues of the consumer culture and the lost forgotten tradition from his own country; of the tension between art and communication. Following inspiration from pictures on ‘google search’ or Facebook, ensues the artwork, the staging of an enquiry on whether these fictional depictions in mass media ultimately have a bigger influence on defining a collective understanding of art than art itself does. These studies are the initial motives for his works. He processes them with a certain personal distance to show us in a subtle way the absurdity of our times. His paintings, whether oil, acrylic or (technically) photorealistic drawings, are a perfidious game with subjects such as sexuality, obsolete rituals or excesses in our society. In addition, he ascribes dark qualities to the work, often with a biting sense of humor that questions the motives and messages of capitalism. The common denominator in his oeuvre is an interplay of different techniques in one and the same work, combining technical brilliance with apparent naive interventions in the last phase of painting, thereby taking the risk of destruction.