In his paintings, Yorgos Papafigos creates a surreal world that engages the viewer through paradoxical, strange landscapes that nevertheless feel familiar. That’s because this body of work deals with central themes, consciously and subconsciously, such as fertility, sex, death, time, distress, faith, that employ human thought and life based on an approach that is both spiritual and satirical.
The work of Yorgos Papafigos focuses on ancient and folk Greek rites, taken from historical and religious myths and everyday experiences. Through the destruction of images collected from different location and environments, the artist creates a visually controlled chaos. The archetypal element in Papafigos’ work tells a ritual that is religious, sexual, personal or artistic and is lived as an experience, a refuge from which adventures occur in the abstract and enigmatic landscapes created.
His works constitute a proposal for the disclosure, the end of the world, expressing his landscapes, creating erotic or not fantasies that can be a satire or critique of everyday life, but paradoxically, all lead deeper in our aesthetic landscapes. The artist is not desperately looking to say something new, but to observe the world from his own, very special perspective and express a concern that plays with boundaries, dreams, and impulses, a serious entertainment between the sensual – aesthetic pleasure and the remains of time. Hence this great sense of freedom that comes out of his work. The controlled chaos.
Text by Sofia E. Bouratsis
