NIKOS ASLANIDIS

 

ANABASIS

 

Drawing inspiration from the vast breadth of Art History, Aslanidis articulates his own visual vocabulary, engaging with concepts such as ambiguity, transformation, the archetypal, and the ineffable — always aiming to capture the complexity of human existence.

 Aslanidis’ motifs ignite associative reasoning, unfettered by narrative conventions, intertwining the history of painting with a profound sense of personal intimacy.

 A characteristic example is the work Anabasis, from which the exhibition takes its title: a human figure emerges from the water, appearing to merge entirely into a second one standing upright like an empty human shell. This paradoxical fusion is balanced by the tranquil landscape of the horizon and enriched with numerous references to the grand tradition of painting. The result is an image composed of both realistic and irrational elements, granting equal poetic weight to the
ordinary and the extraordinary — a duality that serves as a measure for the dimensions of human existence itself.

 Aslanidis’ works are both raw and refined, serene and unsettling; they recall cultural references and personal experiences, proposing new connections between seemingly unrelated references, images, objects, and events. At the same time, they pose a series of timeless questions, resonating equally with the past and the present. Above all, they embody existential and contemplative inquiries — a point of convergence between the material and the transcendent dimensions of reality.