"HOT LIGHT BOXES"

exhibition by Kosmas Lilikakis
December 2018 - February 2019

On Saturday, 8 December FOUGARO Nafplio presents the exhibition HOT LIGHT BOXES by Kosmas Lilikakis. The light boxes in the show, just one series from the oeuvre of a versatile artist with an extensive track record in art and education, stand out for their theatrical atmosphere and will remain at FOUGARO till Sunday 3 February 2019. The exhibition will be accompanied by educational programmes.

The artist's relationship with this medium begins in 1987, when it was still something of an experiment and virtually unknown in Greek art. It was when Kosmas Lilikakis combined objets trouvés, symbols, writing, light and colour to create unexpected, luminous micro-universes.

The evolution of these light boxes has led the artist to unique paths of expression and to works that strike a challenging balance between imagination and reality, the experiential and the dreamy, the subconscious and the explicit, the beautiful and the grotesque.

The artist's accomplished technique enables him to explore the limits of the works' potential and present a conceptually and symbolically multilayered structure. The works' message and intentions are conveyed to the viewer accurately and immediately, almost at the speed of the light they emit.

Yet we should not be misled by the seemingly light-hearted tone and the familiar materials, motifs and symbols. The complexity of these works hides traps, a subtle irony and a tendency to identify and measure against ideas and beliefs which is sure to find away to surprise us out of our complacency...

Kosmas Lilikakis

Kosmas Lilikakis was born in 1962 in Chania and studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Florence. Besides painting he is also active in sculpture, stage design, performance, land art and art educational programmes. His work has been presented in several solo and group exhibitions and events in Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, Paris, Vienna, Moscow, etc.