Africa | ANTONIOS GEORGAKIS

3 Ways time in Africa influenced my art

My life journey has never been a quiet one. After a lifetime career as a lighting designer and director of photography where I worked with colours and shadows behind the scenes I found my self out of my safety net and in Africa. I’ve made a move to the Democratic Republic of Congo to run a new water unit project. No-one has described life in Africa as easy but reality was at times breathtaking and in ‘every-day’ moments challenging. From simple tools to books and guides everything had to be re-invented. It was as if I was transferred a century back in time and I knew how the future could look like.
3 Ways time in Africa influenced my art

The water unit itself gave permanent work to more than 50 people in the city of Lubumbashi, DRC. When the operation ended unexpectedly (for a variety of reasons) I realised that:

300 people (employees and families)

– There were no available jobs neither national health or unemployment insurance

– I didn’t know how to support and help

I have to accept that life for me at that point was not easy either. I had to find the next step, a way to bridge my past and who I’ve now become.

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I started painting more as a therapy to express my state of mind and a first exhibition of acrylic portraits came to life. It was a wonderful start for me in London and a push to keep me going but I felt that something was missing. What I was doing was disconnected from who I’ve been for the last two years and the people I’ve spent the time with.

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I experimented and looked for more meaning into what I do. I tried colours that express my influences, new materials and forms and ended up creating a new series inspired by my past and my present. The light, the colours and the shapes were finally connected into one expressive form of a true-shelf.

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As I started feeling more confident about the art itself I started feeling more confident about the ways it could help others. I’m now investigating actions and partnerships in order to help my people back in DRC and in Africa in general. Please stay in touch and follow me to check my activities and projects for good.

Overall my time in Africa:

1. Influenced my expression. It’s colours, the vertical sunlight and the stiff landscapes are always hidden connotations of my work

2. Revealed a new perspective about art as it showed that it can be employed for good causes

3. Taught me the meaning of pure simple life through patience and true human relationships

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I’ve been drawn by the beauty of fine arts and the design since childhood.
Having an extensive career as a lighting designer and director of photography I took part in hundreds of architectural, music, dance, theatre and film projects. Worked with colours and shadows behind the scenes where I had to capture and highlight images of reality or transform them and create exciting sceneries and virtual environments.

Born in Greece, it was inevitable and determined for my work to be affected from the hard bright sunlight, the dazzling reflection of the rocks and the unique deep blue colour of the sky and the sea. I am fascinated with Einstein’s theory of general relativity that gravity can bend time and I feel that we are living in a four-dimensional space-time and i am trying even for a while to create escape paths from reality. Additional to this my passion for speed and flight, both offered me some totally different perceptions of the space and dimensions we are moving in.

I had the opportunity to travel and work around the world and through this exploration, I filled my mind and soul with unlimited precious experiences and pictures.
After two years in Central Africa, i am convinced that art always been essential to us but nowadays could also make a positive impact in the world in a more practical way and i am exploring actions about this.

I moved to London in 2015 and I am working on an ongoing collection of highly expressive and lyrical artworks combining modern technology with traditional techniques. My artworks are affected by my long experience in colour combination, light dynamics and composition.
Trough the interaction of familiar shapes, textures, colours and materials that surround us, new unknown elements are created. They do not exist in reality but our universal consciousness can recognize and decode them.

I am not afraid to mix extremely rough brushes with fine detailed lines and vivid bright colours with blue and dark tones. I can respect the perspective and at the same time ignore this rule of human perception.
While painting using digital tools my artwork often conveys the same complex layered effects possible with brushes and knives on multi-textured paintings. Experimenting with the latest fine-art print techniques and the variety of new materials I am seeking the constant evolution in this emerging art form.

If you need any further information or if you wish to ask for a quote for an original artwork please send me a message directly at hello@antoniosgeorgakis.com. I will come back to you shortly after.

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