Lambros Gatis studied at the Vakalo School and worked closely for ten years with the engraver Vasso Katraki, but sculpture has always been his principal expressive means. His interest in form and the possibility of the transformation and extension of it through space by means of motion manifested itself at the beginning of the Eighties when he began to create metal constructions assembled from various useless objects and machine parts. These constructions, hanging suspended or on the ground, made with imagination and inventiveness, resemble robots, imaginary beings or peculiar weapons and impose themselves on space by means of mechanical motion and lighting.
“SBBR G” is a hanging electrically-driven construction whose parts turn in various directions, transmit small bursts of light and at the same time emit a strange sound, which might be the sound made by some unknown weapon.
His focus consistently on the human figure, Christos Kapralos fashioned his own personal style through the assimilation of the doctrines of ancient Greek and folk art as well as those of the European avant garde. He made his first works of clay and plaster, realistic but at the same time simplified and pure. When he turned to the use of bronze in 1957 the human body was transformed into Nikes and mythological figures, ancient warriors, couples, mothers and children.
In 1965 Kapralos began using wood, eucalyptus trunks in particular. This gave him the opportunity to create compositions powerfully schematic and strongly non-figurative, obedient to the form imposed on him by the shape of the trunks themselves. Thus, he created a series of works inspired by the events and figures of antiquity, such as “Warrior”, a theme which had occupied him since the Fifties. In contrast, however, to the dramatic intensity which characterized the older compositions in bronze, the “Warrior” made of wood acquires a monumental character and thus is transformed into a symbol of Victory.
Konstantinos Papadimitriou was a folk artist who lived and worked in the 19th century. His works include woodcut figures of War-of-Independence fighters in the popular tradition.
“Georgios Karaiskakis” is depicted in a frontal, serene, but also resolute pose, while the colourisation – a characteristic feature of folk art – accentuates the overall realism. The inscription “This statue of the blessed Karaiskakis was carved and painted by the hand of Konstantinos Papadimitriou, hailing from Agrafa, on June 8, 1829” is also characteristic of the folk culture, not only stating the identity of the portrayed figure, but also the artist’s desire to assert that the work was made by a folk, yet named artist.
