Oval, 1993

Takis Stephanou, an artist with a variety of interests, studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1964 - 1969), while at the same time studying at the School of Theatre of the National Odeion of Athens. He then went to Paris, where took lessons in painting and costume design. Engaged in a constant quest for the 'primordial form' which exists in nature - in the structure of crystals, in the structure of metals, in the architecture of plants - and for the rhythms and ratios which determine the constitution of the universe, he has created works which are obedient to these eternal rules. However, referring back to these archetypal images is not effected only by a knowledge of mathematics and physics, but by the use of materials which are purely natural and earthy: lava, earth, stone, ash, rust. And he follows the same route in his efforts to escape from the limits of the canvas and to produce a rendering in space, but in two-dimensional constructions, of the same cosmic harmony.