Golden Scissors Boot Camp,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 70 cm

In intense negotiation with the sense of the uncanny, Theo Bargiotas presents his fifth solo exhibition, The Beast was Harmless and Horrible at ALMA Gallery. Driven by a fervent desire to discover the beasts within our inner world, Bargiotas employs a vivid, realistic style layered with imaginative complexity, striving to restore the connection between human beings and their souls. Through this, he challenges viewers to reflect on questions of self-projection and identity.

Goose is Loose,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 70 cm

As the artist notes: Myth is built on sacrifice upon sacrifice. The beautiful myth comes with beautiful monsters. Horned monsters. You begin to understand the beast’s needs too. You play together—whenever they let you, that is. It gives you a pelt, some fake teeth, and a pair of wooden cothurni. So you can perform.

So you can pretend to be the beast. It assigns you homework: change your name and persona for a day, dress like the beast, go out and behave like one.

Beast in the place of the beast. What a splendid day! What a perfect game! What red blood! What stinking big feet! You like it all. What you feared, you became. What you secretly desired, you achieved.

You are a Beast!

And now you breathe heavily in the dark. You draw like a child, you dance like a wild thing. From time to time, you kill a small animal to pass the time, a bigger one to feed on. People fear you (don’t they?). Or maybe they’re bored of you. Because there are many monsters. Everyone has monsters. Everyone is a monster. You’re not such a remarkable case after all.

The Blind Leading The Blind Leading
the Blind Leading the Blind,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 70 cm

The Day We Cut Her Loose,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 50 cm

The Elixir for Peter's Messed Up Heart,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 70 cm

The Night Shift,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 70 cm

The Tiniest of Benedictions,
charcoal on paper,
50 x 50 cm

Bod Prod,
oil on canvas,
92 x 150 cm

Diesel Diesel, What a Weasel,
oil on canvas,
95 x 120 cm

Elassona Physiotherapy,
oil on canvas,
135 x 180 cm

Equus asinus,
oil on canvas,
35 x 50 cm

Glowfish Monster Hunters (terra incognita),
oil on canvas,
130 x 120 cm

Hic Sunt Dracones (here be dragons),
oil on canvas,
175 x 158 cm

The Beast from the East,
the Pest from the West,
oil on canvas,
90 x 100 cm

The Beast That Smelled Real Good,
oil on canvas,
80 x 60 cm

The Beast That Smelled Real Good ii,
oil on canvas,
120 x 120 cm

The Myth of the Untamable Sow,
oil on canvas,
90 x 70 cm

The Pain Sucker,
oil on canvas,
50 x 70 cm

What We Do in the Shadows,
oil on canvas,
90 x 90 cm

You will find the house full of bees,
and nothing left of the ox,
oil on canvas,
130 x 120 cm