Artios Gallery presents
Fo t i n i C h r i s t o p h i l l i s The collection of paintings and drawings 2012 - 2021
Copyright © 2022 Artios Gallery, LLC All rights reserved
"Art is only a means to life, the life more abundant. It merely points the way." - Henry Miller (1941). “The Wisdom of the Heart”
Foreword Many famous writers, philosophers, politicians, opined on the importance of art in our lives. Why do people create art? This simple question leads to a myriad of different answers depending on one’s own worldview, life philosophy, personality, and relationship with creativity. Some may find it possible to sit still and be content with the measured rhythm of life. Others, conversely, move and seek constantly, displaying the kind of productive restlessness that pushes the boundaries of ordinary and forces to seize the moment, to build, to construct, to create. A good artist would fall into the latter category. A good artist is, first of all, a keen observer, noticing a minute detail, opening their senses, and being aware of the immediacy of the moment. Another indispensable trait is the ability to express their vision through various media in a way that is understandable to the viewer. This clarity of expression gives rise to a transformation of the ideas onto a canvas or a paper and constantly creates tension, energy, liveliness, finally leaving a lasting impression on the observer. Henry Miller once said, “The art of living is based on rhythm - on give & take, ebb & flow, light & dark, life & death. By acceptance of all aspects of life, good & bad, right & wrong, yours & mine, the static, defensive life, which is what most people are cursed with, is converted into a dance, 'the dance of life,' metamorphosis.” This constant “push” and “pull,” embracing the dichotomy of existence, is what gives rise to artists' creative energy. A young American painter, Fotini Christophillis finds herself in a constant artistic rhythm. It is not a surprise that she is inspired by music and dance, the two very rhythmic forms of art. The artist has a background in classical ballet, which she considers an important part of her artistic identity. By her own admission, ballet taught Christophillis to “work within a clear structure while always striving for freedom.”
Downtown on Main No.4 oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Like painting, ballet demands maximum energy output within a constraint of space – in the case of ballet, it is the dancer’s own body, for the artist – it is a canvas or a sheet of paper. The tension between motion control and freedom of expression produces the necessary energy release. Christophillis says, “To me, the painting is successful when it feels like it’s dancing, there is a kind of visceral humming quality to the work and painting is always a kind of dance.” A perfect example of such a “dance” is her series Springtime Is Happening. Using mainly pastel, gouache and watercolor, the artist creates floral compositions that emanate light, movement and a kind of sensual rhythm that gives rise to a feeling of joy, etherealness, and a sense of renewal. The relatively limited color palette is intentional. It does not distract from the line and the pattern of a painting. While working on this series, Christophillis listened to classical jazz of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery and others, to immerse herself in the kind of poetic mood which would give her works a “rhythmic quality” and “buoyant energy.”
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The artist compares her painting process to a musical performance of a jazz band where individuals come together to create a powerful live experience. She notes that the goal of making a painting is akin to a coalescence of performance and live moment which gives it a necessary intensity. “I want a painting that is an intuitive experience, sensations like listening to a song and a melody that is timeless and memorable. I want my painting to dance and hum, that’s when I know it’s working.” When asked which artists influenced her most, Christophillis gives several names. She admires Milton Avery’s “sensitive clarity of color and composition,” “an intimacy and immediacy in his works on paper and sketches,” and “individuality in his forms, color, and surface texture.” She loves Albert York’s “limited palette and the distillation of form to create balanced and intimate compositions.” However, Christophillis considers David Hockney her spiritual and technical icon. She finds “his ability to create an abstract language from direct observation of his personal visual world compelling and engaging.” This particular notion is especially evident in her Emerge series. Although technically different from Hockney’s works, Christophillis’s paintings carry a certain dream-like quality reminiscent of the master. His often empty spaces with either no or a limited number of figures produce a feeling of isolation and eeriness. Similarly, Christophillis’s lonely human figures, sometimes shown in the company of one animal, infuse an illusory sense of strangeness.
Peonies & Peaches oil on linen, 36 x 36 inches
According to the artist, her cityscape series Not Anywhere but Here is influenced by the great American painter Edward Hopper. As in the Emerge collection, Christophillis’s style differs substantially from Hopper’s work. What unites it with the master is the idea of loneliness and isolation in contemporary American culture. Created during the pandemic, the series reflects the artist’s impression of city places in time of quarantine. Despite the perceived emptiness and seclusion, Christophillis’s cityscapes use generous blue, green, and yellow hues radiating optimism, inviting the viewer to walk along the streets, sitting at the cafes, enjoying the sunshine. The artist employs a peculiar technique of applying oil on canvas or linen reminiscent of a watercolor sketch. Yet the brightness of oils saturates each painting, soaking it in an eternal glow of positive energy, perhaps producing an effect opposite to the one intended. This volume comprises 54 paintings, including works on paper and canvases completed in the period from 2012 through 2021. They are grouped into three collections and each has an introductory paragraph by the artist. Christophillis’s abundant positive energy emanates from each page of this book. It offers a viewer a feeling of living in the moment, taking in all the sensory impressions from the external world and filtering them through the artist’s vision. It makes Christophillis’s works genuine, authentic, and timeless. by Ellen Opman 2
About Fotini Christophillis Fotini Christophillis is an American artist born in Greenville, SC. Her love for arts was cultivated by her grandfather, himself a talented painter. From an early age, Christophillis was surrounded by paints and brushes, spending considerable time with her grandfather and learning various techniques from him. According to the artist, painting and drawings were always the natural way of expressing herself. Christophillis also has a background in music and dance, growing up playing piano and studying ballet. As an undergraduate student, she studied Classics at the College of Charleston, SC, and spent a summer in Greece as part of her study abroad. The trip to the Temple of Hephaistos during that time became a catalyst for her future education. Christophillis recalls, “It was a mid-summer, and the sun was strong, I carried a sketchbook with me and made a drawing of the Temple of Hephaistos. I remember thinking about all the people who walked to this temple like I had, over thousands of years, and with this experience in the bright summer light of Greece, I knew I was an artist, and this is what I was going to do.” Christophillis holds an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University (2016) and a BA in Studio Art and Arts Management from the College of Charleston (2008). The artist primarily works with oil on linen or canvas. Drawing and working on paper with gouache and watercolor are also important to her creative process. Christophillis finds inspiration in depicting cityscapes and natural forms. Music and movement galvanize her and allow an equal degree of freedom and control to continue perfecting her technical skills and foster her imagination. Christophillis received two Arts Grants from the City of Charleston Cultural Affairs Office to participate in group exhibitions, including one at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. She exhibited her work nationally in galleries in cities such as NYC, San Diego, and St. Louis, as well as the Redux Contemporary Art Center and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC, and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her works are in private collections throughout the USA. With her work, Christophillis aims to create a connection with the viewer where the experience of the painting expands and broadens time, producing a transformative effect. The artist says, “I am trying to reveal something that only art can do. Suspending time is the goal, to become something more than what we already know and understand. I want to invite my viewer into this mystery, into this suspension, and to create a piece of timelessness that the world can always have.”
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Springtime Is Happening - floral paintings & drawings 2020/2021 I gravitate towards the sun and seek to fully experience the sensuality of light and nature through my painting process. I also find inspiration in people and urban crossroads. The tension between my need for nature and light and the complexities and surprises of culture is a paradox that drives me. I need this tension and the friction as well as the spaciousness and the buoyant light, and this push and pull is where my work thrives. Phillip Guston said of painting that “It’s a long, long preparation for a few moments of innocence.” And it is in those “moments of innocence” that I feel fully alive and authentic, allowing the imagery from my subconscious to emerge, experiencing a “sense of new life.” I feel joy in these moments and joy again in connecting the work with an audience, embracing the dialogue that is born from establishing these connections. Although I work primarily in oil on linen or canvas, drawing and working on paper with gouache and watercolor is also important to my process. I maintain a regular studio practice of drawing from direct observation in my daily life, those fugitive glimpses of the day so quickly pass. This practice brings me into the present moment, informs my work through the carefully observed line and spatial relationships, as my intention is to have an anchor in reality while working from my imagination. This allows me to express a more gestural brushwork, while simultaneously working within a structure informed by the carefully observed outside world. As I develop my paintings, I begin building the surface with thin layers, handling the paint with fluidity like water, while also exploring the depth and richness of oil paint through chromatic sensitivity and tonal values. In this way, I hope to bring to the viewer a sense of joy and sensual pleasure in the color. Currently, during this lockdown, I have been producing a series of floral paintings titled, Springtime is Happening inspired by the blossoming springtime and vibrant color of my hometown in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It was an unexpected turn of circumstances that brought me here, but I am finding myself waking up to the natural beauty that surrounds me and striving to capture this experience with a fresh perspective. In the midst of all that is happening, as everything in the world closes, I am reminded that springtime is happening, and there is hope.
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Portrait of Jennie oil on linen 36 x 36 inches 5
Bouquet No. 1 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches 6
Sweet Sue, Just You soft pastel on paper 30 x 22 inches
Sweet Rosetta soft pastel on paper 30 x 22 inches 7
Portrait of Tracy soft pastel on paper 30 x 22 inches 8
Flowers for Naima soft pastel on paper 30 x 22 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.23 gouache on paper 11 x 14 inches 9
Mountain Flowers gouache on birchwood panel 7 x 5 inches 10
Springtime Is Happening No.20 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches
Peonies & Peaches oil on linen 36 x 36 inches 11
Bouquet No.4 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches 12
Bouquet No.5 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches
Bouquet No.2 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches
So What... soft pastel on paper 30 x 22 inches
Bouquet No.6 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches 13
Springtime Is Happening No.14 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches 14
Springtime Is Happening No.11 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.18 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches 15
Springtime Is Happening No.1 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches 16
Roses gouache on birchwood panel 7 x 5 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.19 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.17 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches 17
Bouquet No.8 pastel on paper 14 x 11 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.6 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches 18
Bouquet No.7 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches
Springtime Is Happening No.25 gouache on birchwood panel 14 x 11 inches 19
Springtime Is Happening No.22 gouache on paper 11 x 14 inches 20
Springtime Is Happening No.2 gouache on paper 11 x 14 inches
Bouquet No.3 pastel on paper 11 x 14 inches 21
Emerge - figurative paintings 2012/2014 “Pastoral lullaby, where is the old song? Through dreams of busy street signs, I catch a glimpse of what has long, long past. The old mother, with the lamb, with the herd. She is there again, calling to her daughters.” What lies behind my series of paintings Emerge is a desire to explore issues of self-inquiry and man’s relationship to the natural world through metaphorical and intuitive narratives. I am arranging a solitary figure with an animal in a landscape to investigate relationships that emerge from my subconscious, revealing aspects of who I am that I need to know and embody. I am using nature to evoke a sense of place that communicates something to me about where I want to be and what I want to experience. I am exploring aspects of my individual identity as a woman, while at the same time discovering a more archetypal feminine self. My images yield dream-like narratives that seek to reveal my intuitive understanding of man’s place in the natural world. I am using color as a metaphor and am interested in how it works together allegorically, to evoke a specific feeling. Of course, I practice drawing and painting from observed reality as research for my work and to build strong foundational skills, but in my practice my intention is to be spontaneous, immediate, and direct, without sacrificing precision and clarity, to have an anchor in reality while working from my imagination. I begin painting with a feeling, making studies and working in sketchbooks, experimenting with images until I discover something that I feel compelled to develop more fully. Using sketchbooks and creating studies is important to my process as it puts me in a state of mind in which I am comfortable to take risks and so am more likely to have revelatory discoveries. In the context of contemporary art, I consider myself to be a narrative painter using traditional methods and materials (primarily oil and various drawing media). My desire is to communicate the essence of life rather than the specifics of living.
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Emerge oil on linen 30 x 30 inches 23
Desert Rider No. 1 oil on linen 30 x 40 inches 24
Desert Rider No. 2 oil on linen 30 x 40 inches
Woman and Lamb No. 2 oil on linen 30 x 40 inches 25
Woman and Owl No. 2 oil on linen 36 x 24 inches 26
Woman and Lamb No. 4 oil on linen 36 x 24 inches
Woman and Deer No. 2 oil on paper 12 x 9 inches
Woman and Lamb No. 6 oil on paper 12 x 9 inches 27
Deer in Winter oil on linen 16 x 20 inches 28
Woman and Deer No. 1 oil on linen 20 x 16 inches
The Bouquet oil on linen 24 x 20 inches 29
Woman and Crow oil on linen 40 x 30 inches 30
Catching the Wind oil on linen 24 x 36 inches
Deer oil on linen 30 x 40 inches 31
Not Anywhere But Here - cityscape paintings 2021 I returned to my hometown of Greenville, SC from New York City at the start of the pandemic. During this period of lockdown, I am inspired by the light and vibrant color of the area, taking walks daily, exploring downtown and Falls Park, embracing a kind of shelter or haven in this period of quarantine. Although the streets these days are not as bustling as they usually are, I imagine the sprightly life and seek to explore the connection I have for this place through color rhythms and unexpected light. After some time of exploring floral bouquets, I became interested in exploring the streets of my newly discovered hometown. Walking is another form of meditation, of finding a connection to a place. Something in me wanted to go back to the cafés and restaurants, enter the public spaces of community and social gathering. The cityscape paintings became color field explorations, the vibration of the color and the rhythms of light giving my experience of place a new context. I observed the spaciousness of the streets in the absence of people. There was a sense of loneliness, but also a joyousness and sense of comfort that I derived from creating abstracted compositions from the views in which I suddenly found myself. I realized that while I am not anywhere, I am here. I cannot try to be anywhere -- the pandemic changed that, completely uprooting me abruptly, without warning. But once home, I woke up to the moment and created my own sense of presence. I explore presence and absence, eliminating specific details to express a dream-like snapshot from my subconscious, a kind of cinematographic film still that’s neither “here nor there”. This “in-between” space is where I currently am in these times of the pandemic, I want to see the streets alive and bustling, but there is an eeriness in the absence of people, spaciousness, empty tables, doors wide open, but no one walking through them. This paradox drives me and I seek to reconcile both ends of the spectrum in my work, juxtaposing bands of color with plays of light and shadow, precise hard edges, geometric forms, with improvisational and fresh brushwork that is both turbulent and free as well as controlled and sustained. In addition, splashes of raw canvas become important to the composition, leading the eye into the painting, into the space of action that evokes life and movement, yet is ambiguous and undefined. Essentially, the paintings reflect my current experience as I seek to understand where I am, where I am going, and how I relate to this place in these strange times.
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West Village oil on canvas 9 x 12 inches 33
Downtown on Main No. 2 oil on linen 40 x 30 inches 34
Downtown on Main No. 3 oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches
Downtown on Main No. 4 oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches 35
Downtown on Main No. 5 oil on linen 24 x 20 inches 36
Port City No. 1 oil on linen 24 x 20 inches 37
West End No. 2 oil on linen 24 x 20 inches 38
West End No. 3 oil on linen 16 x 20 inches
Downtown on Main No. 1 oil on canvas 12 x 16 inches 39
Port City No. 2 oil on linen 40 x 30 inches 40
West End No. 1 oil on linen 24 x 20 inches 41
Curator & Design: Editor & Text:
Elena Iosilevich Ellen Opman
Catalog cover:
Artios Gallery, LLC New York, NY
Springtime Is Happening No.18 gouache on paper 14 x 11 inches (35.5 x 28 cm)
Website: www.FotiniChristophillis.com Email: fotinipaintings@gmail.com IG: @fotinistudio FB: fotinistudio
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