-
.
- Ελληνικά
Andreas Karagiyan has emerged as one of the most versatile and multi-talented figures of our country's artistic scene. Graduating from the Medical School of the University of Athens in 1967, he travelled to London to obtain his residency. There Karayan was captivated by the cosmopolitan aura, the new artistic trends and the surrounding atmosphere of the late 1960s. This led him to decide to leave medicine to study painting at the Central School of Art in Camberwell, London, and then printmaking in Stuttgart, Germany.
In 1978, Andreas Karayan presented his first solo exhibition at the Ora gallery in Athens. A year later he exhibited at the "Zygos" gallery in Cyprus, marking the beginning of a brilliant artistic career both in Cyprus and abroad. Among his notable achievements, the representation of Cyprus at the Venice Biennale in 2001, with his work PERSONAE - the PERSONAE series was subsequently presented at the renowned "Galleria Lia Rumma" in Naples, Italy. His successful participation in the Cairo Biennale in 2006, the year in which the Cyprus Pavilion won the First Prize, also stands out. In 1995, his masterly illustrations of Cavafy's poems published in Berlin, together with his exhibition of works from the "KAVAFIS" series at the "Galerie Am Savignyplatz", confirm the versatility of his talent.
In 2007, at the invitation of the Library of Alexandria, he lived in Alexandria, where he created the wonderful series entitled "The Alexandrians", which were exhibited in the then newly built building of the city's Library.
Other elements of his multifaceted creativity and talent should also be highlighted, such as his contribution to literature, his passion for music, and his wonderful way of performing on the piano. Since 2004, Andreas Karayan has been working on his autobiographical novel, for which he was awarded two State Novel Prizes. He has also been an important journalist for twenty years, writing reviews, presentations of young artists and texts on human rights.
Andreas Karayan also stood out for his revolutionary mood, being one of the innovators and pioneers, introducing the representation of the male nude into the visual lexicon of Cypriot art. This pioneering move provoked significant reactions in the then conservative society of Cyprus, contributing to the breaking of traditional notions and the revision of the artistic field in Cyprus, but at the same time, creating a public dialogue around art and freedom of expression.
During his career he has created an impressive and varied body of visual work, ranging from his realistic origins to freer formal expressions and elements, which will also characterize his pacing through the art of video. His figurative figures of young men are imbued with an inner light - perhaps Byzantine - or as that of the metaphysical, with the mysterious smile of Fayum's portraits, sometimes interspersed with lessons of romanticism, all elements confused through his particular, pallique touch. In a monumental manner and with a quasi-ancieness, love is celebrated, so that the lived visual idyll and the pleated visibility of a world sometimes unknown to the viewer becomes unexpectedly lyrical, even in its most realistic manifestations.
The dense gestural interventions in Andrew's work, his use of colour, perspective, light and the internal blur of his heroes, reflect great painting traditions, capturing timeless artistic values, as a testament to the intentionality of a solid pictorial idiom.
His works correlate realistic performance with metaphysical elevation, both in the space where the visual narrative takes place and in the way the human mind and body experience the presence of the other. The melancholy that runs through his forms intensifies the powerful emotion the viewer feels in front of his works.
With these few words, I wish Andreas Karayan success in his exhibition and also wish him to continue this unique artistic journey. Supporting artists is crucial to the development and evolution of our culture, and as the Deputy Ministry of Culture we stand by every effort that brings inspiration and new ideas to the art world.
(EFYs/EATH)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
