The Pre-Raphaelite conspiracy,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020

Through his new visual work of collage and painting on canvas, Konstantinos Patsios evolves his expressive dexterity using a multitude of pictorial styles and references both from the history of art and the contemporary consumerist universe. With sharp narrative compositions that suggest modern palimpsests, he vigorously renders the contemporary deluge of information of the image. Through his works one can hear the agony of homogenization expressed by Guy Debord in the Society of the Spectacle where the (shattered) images, sometimes as information or advertising and sometimes as propaganda or a way of direct consumption of entertainment, henceforth belong to the sphere of representation - whose original unity has however gone forever.

Never-ending Butterfield,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020

Having initially selected and resorted to materials (postcards, posters) that he himself has collected from his personal quests and voyages, he then over-paints them, transmutes them and reconstructs them on canvas, transforming the painting into an experiential organism. In this way, memory functions both individually and collectively since by reconstructing his own experiences, the artist creates a new narrative that from now on concerns the collective memory; in a manner similar to the mechanism of memory that - at times confused, and at others with clarity that almost reaches obsession - dredges up impressed images into the present, one discovers in Patsios’ images, fragments, impressions, colours and messages seemingly disparate, but essentially perfectly homogeneous. At the same time, the invariant factor in this new work is the constant reminder of futility in the form of vanitas, which quietly but relentlessly declares its presence, more in the form of dark humour rather than heavy legacy.

Deus ex-machina,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020

The portraits he uses suggest the desire to connect with the great tradition of painting; however, their glory has expired. At times recognizable, and at others voluntarily anonymous, they discard their familiar properties and coexist with the neo-pop culture. Their chromatic hues are bold, often willingly overlapping the personalities they frame. In the paintings, the multiple subjects, gendered, animate or inanimate, do not imbricate, each claiming their own space. Paraphrasing Barthes, the canvas becomes a multidimensional space where a variety of writings – none of which original - mix and clash. Thus, not only are the established idols and hierarchies called into question, but an emphasis is put on the here-and-now of the new work, while the intensity of the result often startles.

Helmut had a secret garden,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020

Using Anselm Jappe's text with the same title on the end of art (1999), with his Sic transit gloria artis, Patsios reminds us that the debate regarding the end of art always remains relevant and outdated at the same time. Though the limits of art seem to concern him intellectually, his mixed techniques and the use of history and current events prove that art always precedes aphorisms. With humorous choices, sensuality and political insinuations, his works are connected to the present and speak a contemporary language.

Katia Papandreopoulou, Art historian

The Florence syndrome,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2019

Gelato paradiso,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2019

Sans rêve et sans merci,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020

The Unbearable lightness of being,
mixed media on canvas,
100 x 100 cm,
2020