Preview: Thursday 8 May 2008, 8-10pm Exhibition dates: 8 May � 30 June
The Breeder gallery is pleased to present the first solo show by artist Stelios Faitakis. The show consists of a large scale site specific mural as well as of several works on canvas, wood and paper.
By having graffiti and urban culture as a starting point, Stelios Faitakis has succeeded in creating a unique visual language with obvious references from Byzantine iconography, Cretan folk painting, Mexican muralism and Japanese as well as Asian art. Elements from the shadow theater of Greece and Java are also traced in the work, along with a relation to great painters of the past like Flemish Pieter Bruegel and Hans Memling and German Albrecht D�rer. Faitakis manages to combine the Eastern tradition with the Western culture in a personal, immediately recognizable visual code.
Laksley Castell�s song �What A Great Day� lends its title to the show but also to the thematic of the mural, which depicts a revolution scene, an illogical space where perspective is distorted and the heroes of the work resemble contemporary martyrs. The dominance of gold colour and also the halos around the warriors heads are elements borrowed from religious painting, but at the same time the urban landscape of the mural brings the viewer back to the present.
Stelios Faitakis� work �Socrates Drunk the Conium� which was part of the 1st Athens Biennal Destroy Athens, curated by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Augustine Zenakos and Poka-Yio was largely discussed. Recently Stelios has presented his work in the exhibition �Anathena� at the Deste Foundation in Athens, curated by Marina Fokidis and in the exhibition �What Remains is Future� curated by Nadja Argyropoulou in Patras. His works have been exhibited in the show �Art on the first page� at Benaki Museum in Athens, organized by Athens Voice but also in Beijing at the show �Labyrinth� at 798 Art Space. He is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts and he lives and works in Athens.
