Katerina Stavrou

Painting is not just a field for me, it is my passion. I have developed and growth through and within my art work. It has been my primary mean of putting ideas on the surface, thus it was only natural to adopt on the way a more expressionistic ideology in my painting technique.

I like to challenge myself and explore the limits of the creation process. My work affiliates with the values of Abstract Expressionism, a movement that is visually connected with my paintings. I am mostly fascinated by the way in which the painter, within the Abstract Expressionism technique “Action painting”, is often become part of the process. The “Action Painter” is said to release his soul onto the canvas through painting. Therefore, painting automatically becomes an act, a performance that is translated on the canvas surface. “Action Painting” is a technique that initially introduces the importance of the process, which supports one of my greatest beliefs in life, that the journey is as important as the destination, if not more.

Enjoying the ‘act’ of painting itself is essential to me and something that encompasses my passion and love for my work. I consider the philosophy of automatism to be an integral part of the creative process, as I use unconscious spontaneous gestures, followed by very careful and gentle painting, at which point the decision to keep certain accidental marks becomes part of the creation. Looking at the blank canvas, my vision is to express myself, while at the same time to manage and personalize this experience for my audience. I feel like the object of creation is becoming a live performance through the transition, within the observers’ point of view.

Thus, my desire is to create an event with my paintings through the audience’s eyes. I am not just delivering an image or an idea, but sharing my passion, my “love affair” with my work. I wish to create feelings, to travel between the gestural movement, the colours and figures if suggested. My work could not really be considered figurative, representational or conceptual, although it holds these values within it. It is physical, intimate, vivid and honest.