Zoumboulakis Galleries is happy to present Nikos Lagos’ new series of work “Skulls & Hearts”, opening on Thursday, December 2, 2021.
Nikos Lago’s newest body of work, Skulls & Hearts, reveals a dense and complex world full of symbols, colors, images and meanings that coexist with more austere ones. In his canvases details seem to be decoded, details that were ‘lost’ in the density of the previous ones. It seems as if the artist and the viewer are trying to detect and isolate an important message. But even in his more dense works, color remains important and small details are magnified and struggle to prevail over others. Skulls and Hearts are dominant, leading the viewer to think about the essence of symbolism that is used to determine primordial human notions.
On the occasion of the exhibition, Art historian, Yannis Bolis writes: “A whole world emerges from the works of Nikos Lagos, with this series coming to confirm the qualities, the expressive and the inner power of his painting. […] the artist builds a singular universe and presents a personal mythology of rare sensibility and fullness where the notions of life and death, erotic attraction and sexual desire, of the tenderness and fluidity of gender relations, of repulsion and solitude, oppression and liberation, loss and trauma, rejection, castration and immersion into dark and uncharted areas of the subconscious, of split personality, dysfunction and disharmony claim a leading role. The world of Nikos Lagos—inundated with skulls and hearts, ambiguous and open to multiple readings and approaches—defines a highly subversive and unpredictable setting for human existence in an extension of reality, seeking and imposing the viewer’s involvement, complicity and reaction”.
Artist Short Bio:
Nikos Lagos (b. 1970) is a graduate of the School of Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and the School of Fine Arts of Athens (ASFA) under professor Jannis Psychopedis. Since 2005 he has had ten solo exhibitions in Athens, Brussels and Zurich, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in museums and art sitesin Greece and Europe such as, the Benaki Museum (Greece), the Municipal Gallery of Athens, the State Museum of Contemporary Art Thessaloniki, Tart Gallery (Switzerland), the Gounaropoulos Museum (Greece), Astrolavos Gallery and Zoumboulakis Galleries. His work is part of public and private collections. He lives and works in Athens where he is represented by Zoumboulakis Galleries since 2008.
