Day by Day

Michalis Kiousis

January 19 - February 17 2024 Αthens TEXT BY Areti Leopoulou

The Crossroad,
acrylics and oils on canvas,
170 x 120 cm,
2023

The fluidity of the quotidian, a condition that can define people's lives both universally as well as personally, is the central thematic denominator in all the artworks presented by Michalis Kiousis in his new solo exhibition.

Portraits of people, faces somewhere between action (as Arendt defines it in “The Human Condition”), at their daily activities and a condition of waiting: for what is to come, for what continues and defines their personal struggles, their goals or their frustrations. Human-centered in all its aspects, Kiousis’ oeuvre focuses with tenderness to the lives of people, to moments when they stand (to think?), when they move (where to? why?) from one point to another, when they observe (as the artist does) the life around them. In this series of works, Kiousis continues to consistently capture his gaze, drawing representational triggers from memories, experiences and photographic or drawing archival material collected in Senegal between 2018-2022, being himself a traveller and an active observer of Senegalese people and their lives.

Ghetto Flower,
acrylics and oils on canvas,
153 x 108 cm,
2023

When it comes to the moment of representing all these experiences, how does this memory recall function? What are the “souvenirs” of such a cultural exploration and observation? And how does he choose to render the moment, the sensations with shadows and color? Who are the people that catch his attention and how do they dominate his compositions?

Kiousis’ painting proves to be analogous and consistent always with his insightful vision: intense pulsating colorful yet fluid sections, diffused light, a sense of movement and intense linearity, but also a metaphorical freezing of the composition's light shadows in a state of indefinable transition. This sense of acceptance and awareness of the fluidity in life is the conceptual core for all of Kiousis’ compositions. Life evolving in a day by day basis (‘‘byss par byss’', as the Senegalese say); it is an entrenched everyday philosophy that allows people to face life detached from expectations and aspirations, self-sufficient, immobilized or on the move, somewhere between an initial goal and its multiple alternatives. Or it is a biopolitical need and condition in a place where not everything is a given, but people find ways to manage it. And Kiousis hoards diverse aspects of a different cultural philosophy and management of life, offering us a lesson in colorful, luminous self-sufficiency.