KATIA DIOGENOUS reviews a new book detailing one man’s life and art
STASS Paraskos is one of Cyprus’ great artists. His colourful paintings are everywhere, he cuts a familiar figure and there can be few people who have not driven through the village of Lemba and wondered at its great wall and other outdoor works of art by his students.
The Greek Cypriot artist has been painting for 50 years. During that time his work has moved from being light and soft to full-blooded and bold. But his paintings are always energetic, passionate, lyrical and alive with traces of his Mediterranean heritage.
Stass has been heard calling his rich cultural work “a window to the world”. He delivers his opinions on life, politics and love through his art. He depicts love, sex and romance.
Now, art historian Norbert Lynton, who taught Stass at Leeds College of Art in the 1950s, provides a window onto the painter’s work, with a lavishly illustrated book just published in the UK.
There is an essential character to Stass Paraskos’ paintings: his thick lines and use of bold colours complement the dramatic side of his work. His forms are strong and more or less un-modulated, some of his paintings have a refreshing childish quality of innocence to them, something rarely seen among artists. Over the years, Stass did not acquire a structured form of art and his paintings look natural and impulsive. His lack of academic idealisation has fuelled his work with a classicism that is well loved by viewers around the world.
His paintings hold very little back. Their directness is both revealing and cosmic. Stass’ work is dreamlike and fanciful rather than realistic. There is visual tension in his work that will involve the viewer in a game of sorts, a puzzle.
Stass’ paintings speak mostly through colour and can resemble prehistoric cave paintings. Though some of his work may seem quite dark, Stass’ paintings mainly depict harmony and ease and not aggression. He likes to paint people and his essential demand is freedom.
Stass Paraskos, by Norbert Lynton is published by the Orange Press (London), priced £12.99. It is distributed in Cyprus by the Moufflon Bookshop, Nicosia.
