NIKOS ENGONOLOULOS
THE ELUSIVE DREAMS OF JOY
G. Kordis
Dreams are elusive and Joy is even more so. Nikos Engonopoulos both a Greek painter and poet and a super-realist knows it very well. And so he bases all his poetry on the Greek approach of understanding the world without losing sight of the pain, the dream, the agony and the joy of the whole world. His surrealism is authentic and tangible. It is so because he leans on the Greek tradition, on an incorruptible and live body. And on it he treads on the modernization and the tendencies that he brought to the 20th century.
Engonopoulos as a surrealist follows the ways of his heart, writes about the secrets of his existence, he exists as a suspended meteor and resists the limitations of logic. He abandons himself to whispers of love and to the secret promises of the seas and the winds. He looks straight in the eyes the brave and empty cities and praises achievements. He writes about the solitary existence of a poet, which unknowingly is exactly what he seeks. His poetry is quiet, true and alive like his breath and like the beats of his heart.
All this has always attracted me to his work. It made me feel more human, somewhat giving me reason to continue to write with my paint-brush, and to walk through the narrow passages of art. Because, just like him, I have always wished that my art is the natural extension of my body, authentic and with unrestrained breath of the heart.
I have been reading his poems for years. Sometime ago I wished to approach them allegorically. I followed his descriptions and within them I found pictures that create a lot of feelings. I molded them in a Byzantine like painting as I felt that’s what is fitting. Whatever I created consists of a dialogue that I always wanted to have with him but the times and the shyness of my character did not allow.
My paintings are a tribute to a true poet, a true painter and a true ecumenical Hellene.
Athens – 16 September 2015