PORTRAITS
..After the War themes and the Anti-
War themes and the Sea Landscapes we have now the Portraits. With a direct satisfaction of the painting
action which characterizes all his work, he paints with enthusiasm these
"Portraits" which are absolutely imaginary representing a few women but mainly
musicians. Shown strictly "Facing directly" with the
characteristic instruments, like icons of Byzantine musician. Saints painted
not in the 15th century or after Kontoglou, but in the 20th
century and after Picasso. Expressionism always exists in a playful mood rather
than in indignation.
Athens - June 1991
ALEXANDROS XYDIS
Art critic
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«SEARCH CHARACTERISTICS AND CONTENTS OF HIS PORTRAITS»
..A creator with productive presence
in Cyprus well-known not only in Greece but in other foreign artistic
centers with his exhibitions, continues his inquiries, renews his achievements,
enriches with new efforts his expressions.
He
has the ability, as he studied in Florence from 1972-1976 to get closer to the
achievements of European art and to understand substantially the content of the
tradition of his country which goes back thousands and thousands of years.
From
the beginning of his career he was able to achieve a personal way to express
his meetings with the past and the present of his country as well as more
general problems of our times. From his very early efforts Sergiou moves to
morphoplastic directions able to express in a personal way his experiences and
knowledge of the achievements of modern art. Sergiou's portraits are not limited to the well known elements of the physical characteristics and the realistic character of the colour, the role of the space and the static composition. But without sacrificing completely the visual reality by the transformation of the individual to formal, the formation and the monumentation of the faces and mostly the unrealistic colours, the supplementary themes and the undefined space, give a new content to portrait making.
July 1991
CHRYSANTHOS CHRISTOU,
Professor of the History of art at the Athens University - Academic.
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"Themes and composition, morphoplastic language and coating of the colour, space and atmosphere, are used with absolute safety, complete skillfulness, convincing formulation".
"There is no doubt that the violence of the language with which Sergiou expresses himself is without equal not only in modern Greek art, but also in European art as a whole and in every aspect".
"The language of the paintings by Sergiou is characterized by its spontaneity and directness by its expressionistic passion and monumental figures by the power of imposing space and the safety of composition".
"A pure and gifted artist".
"An expressionist in all his themes Sergiou is characterized by his spontaneity and purity, boldness and power of expression. He provides us with a world of monumental figures and suggestive colours, which express with astonishing clarity the entire contradiction of our world, and impersonate known powers and underground processes of life pointing out the most fundamental and the most determinant element they possess".
CHRYSANTHOS A. CHRISTOU,
Prof. of History of Modern Art,
University of Athens
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"My reference of Sergiou in the circle of great artists (sc. Goya, Picasso, Rouau) has been made neither to lower nor to raise him; nor because I believe he has pillaged them; on the contrary, the reference has been made because he confirms in his own way of expression the power of the solutions they have given. He derives power from them so as to have succeeded in expressing his personality with his own means. This personality is that of a Cypriot artist living in a troubled world. He tries hard to articulate his pains and good moments by painting. The great artists in turn confirm that the way is long if he wants to reach the power of their own expression".
"From a more specific point of view it is of importance that Sergiou presents himself as the next Cypriot artist to bear a peculiar violent and clear expressionism that is not found in Greece.
Undoubtedly, he must have his roots far and deep into the peculiarity of the socio-cultural world of Cyprus, which, we must not forget, is washed by the same Mediterranean Sea as Spain".
ALEXANDROS XYDIS,
Art critic, President of Art Critics,
Greece
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"The source of the struggle of Sergiou is the liveliness which characterizes him as a man".
"The painting of Sergiou is an accumulation of strong, primitive, and pictorial sensations that are completed and passed into the pitiless world of art".
A. CHRYSOCHOS,
Painter, art critic
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