These Self-Portraits and Liquid Friends are energetic paintings by Nikos Gyftakis. Using vibrant colors and swirling brush strokes, the Greek artist blends curves and circular lines together to form each oil painting. From a distance, eyes and faces stare out at the viewer. Upon closer inspection, each face transforms into an abstract blur of patterns and textures.
Gyftakis uses continuous lines to create constant movement that changes within the variations of light and shadow. He says, “With the line being the main medium, the curves replace the corners and the continuity comes in place of the discontinuity. There are no contour lines and the figures, the light, and the color, all flow in space and in the surroundings.”
Gyftakis’s paintings range in size, some less than 1 foot wide while others span almost 5 feet wide. Each portrait is an interpretation of how the artist sees the world around him. Rather than depicting realistic figures, the artist finds a particular life and energy in his subjects, an energy that invites viewers to peer deeper and to go beyond the surface of each person’s face.
