ART
April 1981
Catherine Cafopoulos
Makis Theophilaktopoulos’ exhibition of drawings at the Medusa Gallery was interesting because the dynamic, tempestuous style of the artist fully corresponded with the interpretation of the themes. For example, in the two series: «The Motorcyclists and the Act of Love, he gives us speed and eroticism in vertiginous terms through the use of heavy, swirling black charcoal lines.
The Motorcyclist drawings are earlier than the Erotic ones, as Theophilaktopoulos has previously shown an extensive series on the former theme in oil. The drawings are virtually flat. The cyclist is held in his own “space”, usually a rectangular area, which is superimpose, as it were, onto the paper surface. This demonstrates the artist’s concern with the illustrated or painted surface as separated from the canvas surface – that is, the surface of the surface. As a concept it recalls the “Surface – Support’ theory but unlike it,
Theophilaktopoulos’ work neither refers to itself nor is it unrealistic, nor does he explore the materiality of the medium. His treatment of space in the drawings has been directly influenced by his work inn oil. He is not dictated to by the perimeter of the canvas but creates a painterly area to hold his image which is usually placed at an angle to the canvas surface. Thus the canvas becomes the receptacle for the image in its area. Through its heavy textural rendition, the image – in – space appears to be in low-relief. He does not accord illusory perspective to it but gives it a rather summary, two-dimensional impression.
In the “Erotic” drawings, which are turbulent and directly sensual, the theme and the assured dynamic style implicitly coincide with each other. The black charcoal lines are thick, agitated, almost violent, and the mood is one of intense anticipation. His treatment of the surface is similar to that used in his previous work – image in its own space placed onto the paper’s surface – while the figures, although still schematic, have been given slightly more volume.
