at the Gallery 30x24cm

The treasures of an endless ocean lie behind some of the paintings (soul-windows) exhibited in Galleries. Those windows are not for everybody to open nor are they for everybody to cherish; yet they are there for everybody to try. I can never forget the feeling I got the first time I stood in front of such a painting which was talking to me; my own soul. It actually felt like a rabbit-hole through which, like Alice, I travelled to places that I did not know that they existed, even in my imagination. After resurfacing I was never the same...

[A.R.S.]

Midnight's silence 60x80cm

The Raven 

Deep into that darkness peering,

long I stood there, wondering,

fearing, doubting, 

dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

[Edgar Allan Poe]

Silence 30x24cm

 

Sonnet—Silence

Edgar Allan Poe, 1809 - 1849

There are some qualities—some incorporate things,

That have a double life, which thus is made A type of that twin entity which springs

From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade. There is a two-fold Silence—sea and shore—

Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,

Newly with grass o’ergrown; some solemn graces, Some human memories and tearful lore, Render him terrorless: his name’s “No More.” He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!

No power hath he of evil in himself; But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)

Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf, That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod No foot of man,) commend thyself to God!

dawn 80x60cm

... a new dawn is upon us

soon the fires of tonight will breath their last smoky breaths

the true light will disseminatate the past and let the future be born...

[I.R.S.]

light constellations in the Aegean 60x80cm

light constellations in the Aegean... in other words Cyclades, these most beautiful Islands are indeed a light constellation and they were in my mind's eye while experimenting with color and shape during the progress of the above abstraction...[A.R.S.]

madama 40x40cm

"And so I'm marrying in the Japanese style,
Tied for nine hundred
And ninety-nine years,
Free, though, to annul the marriage monthly."
[Pinkerton Act I, PUCCINI's MADAMA BUTTERFLY]

νόστιμον ἦμαρ (day of return) 40x40cm

Πάντα στον νου σου νάχεις την Ιθάκη.
Το φθάσιμον εκεί είν’ ο προορισμός σου.
Aλλά μη βιάζεις το ταξείδι διόλου.
Καλλίτερα χρόνια πολλά να διαρκέσει·
και γέρος πια ν’ αράξεις στο νησί,
πλούσιος με όσα κέρδισες στον δρόμο,
μη προσδοκώντας πλούτη να σε δώσει η Ιθάκη.

Η Ιθάκη σ’ έδωσε τ’ ωραίο ταξείδι.
Χωρίς αυτήν δεν θάβγαινες στον δρόμο.
Άλλα δεν έχει να σε δώσει πια.

Κι αν πτωχική την βρεις, η Ιθάκη δεν σε γέλασε.
Έτσι σοφός που έγινες, με τόση πείρα,
ήδη θα το κατάλαβες η Ιθάκες τι σημαίνουν.

(Από το ποίημα Ιθάκη του Κ.Π. Καβάφη)

At every stage bear Ithaca in mind.

nightview of Thessaloniki 40x40cm

Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη), also known as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital", and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople. Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital. Events such as the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora. Thessaloniki is the 2014 European Youth Capital.

the sleeper 70x50cm

The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe

At midnight, in the month of June,

I stand beneath the mystic moon.

An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,

Exhales from out her golden rim,

And softly dripping, drop by drop,

Upon the quiet mountain top,

Steals drowsily and musically

Into the universal valley.

The rosemary nods upon the grave;

The lily lolls upon the wave;

Wrapping the fog about its breast,

The ruin moulders into rest;

Looking like Lethe, see! the lake

A conscious slumber seems to take,

And would not, for the world, awake.

All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies

Irene, with her Destinies!

haze 70x50cm

The secret island had looked mysterious enough on the night they had seen it before - but now, swimming in the hot June haze, it seemed more enchanting than ever. As they drew near to it, and saw the willow trees that bent over the water-edge and heard the sharp call of moorhens that scuttled off, the children gazed in delight. Nothing but trees and birds and little wild animals. Oh, what a secret island, all for their very own, to live on and play on. [Enid Blyton, The Secret Island]