Charis Vakalopoulos

Employing a simplified palette of muted hues, primarily in the grayscale shades of black and white, Charis Vakalopoulos paints sleekly simplified figures imbued with the classical theories and ideology of his Greek heritage.  Although rendered in two-dimensional format, Vakalopoulos’ weighty figures possess a sculptural sensuality: each curve, muscle, and gesture emerges from the paint as if carved from marble or cast from bronze.  As Vakalopoulos elegantly captures the essential lines of the body with his brush, even the most reduced of forms resonates with a distinctly human energy.  Drawing on his innate yet informed classical influences, Vakalopoulos’ paintings reflect the artist’s exquisite sense of visual balance and pictorial arrangement.  By expertly manipulating the aesthetic of asymmetrical balance, Vakalopoulos recalls the monumentally important use of the contrapposto stance present in Greek Classical sculpture.

Born and raised in the historic city of Thessaloniki, Charis Vakalopoulos continues to live and work in Greece.