Interview
Manolis Kaloudas
Manolis is a painter and visual artist. He was born and raised in the capital of Greece, Athens, where he also works and lives. He is a designer of 3-D Environments. From 2016, until today he also works as a substitute teacher of visual arts courses in primary education.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I started my studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts, in the field of Painting of the Visual Arts department in 2004. I completed my studies and was awarded the Master Integrated degree in 2011. My professors were Chronis Botsoglou and later the position of professor of the same laboratory was taken over by George Lazongas, where I completed my studies with him. Nine years later, i.e. in 2020, I started my postgraduate studies, in Audiovisual Arts in the Digital Age of the Audio and Visual Arts department of the Ionian University. I am currently in the process of completing my postgraduate studies. A few things that should be noted. Ever since I can remember myself, i.e. from the first grades of primary school, I have been drawn to the fine arts, especially drawing and painting. It was the period when I was learning and exploring. But what made me get in touch with art was helping my father, who had a screen printing workshop, during my childhood and teenage years. This gave me a first understanding and perception of color as I was in contact with it at that time. Growing up, I went to a technical high school in order to find a specialty related to my father's work. I chose graphic design as my specialty. In this high school, I had Manthos Gaitis as a free drawing teacher. This teacher introduced me to an artist, to train me systematically and intensively in free drawing. This artist is Konstantinos Daoulas. He was teaching with him a heretical talent of a student at that time.”
What inspires you?
“I can say that I am mainly inspired by landscapes. I would say mainly urban but also natural. Portraits also occupied me as a painter and artist. Because I like and want to keep up to date, my direction has been towards audio visual digital arts. I'm mostly looking for animation techniques. But also 3-D environments. A whole world has opened up to me, and I want to explore it. For example, my master's thesis focuses on the design and implementation of a 3-D environment on a platform such as spatial.io. Other avenues of research have also opened up for me, such as creating video games.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“As a visual painter I like figurative painting with a contemporary look. As a visual artist who explores audiovisual arts and animation animation, a new horizon opens up for me. Of fiction, i.e. environments and worlds that do not exist. In this field I am interested in the environment being quite photorealistic.”
How would you describe your work?
“I have always been interested in exploring new things. Art for me is a search, but also a journey with many parallel roads.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Cremonini, Lucian Freud and Katerina Stefanidaki inspire me.”
“As a visual painter I like figurative painting with a contemporary look.”
What is your creative process like?
“I would say that the canvas is like clay. For me, if you don't try, experiment and erase on the canvas and by extension on the digital canvas, there won't be a satisfactory and artistic result. This is my opinion, I tried it and you see what it does. I like clean colors, I like underlays, I like flowing forms, but also open passages.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The role of the artist in society is very important. For me, the mission of the artist is to create images to create worlds that will teach and inspire global society, after all we live in this global society. In this digital age caution is needed. We live in the age of artificial intelligence and anyone can have their portrait created with an app within seconds. My opinion is through tests that I did everything, the established value of an authentic and genuine painting cannot be compared to something easy and at the same time fake.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My recent exhibitions include: a group exhibition in Pireé in 2016, a group exhibition at the South Gallery in 2019, a group exhibition at the TSICHRITZI Visual Arts Foundation in 2019 and a group exhibition at the Municipal Gallery of MALEVIZIOU with the DIPOLA 2019 group, among others.”
