We are pleased to present Reconsidered Figures, a selected series of paintings showcasing Christos Tsimaris’ exploration of modern evolutions in figurative representation.
Whilst persistently testing the boundaries of contemporary figuration, Christos approaches his paintings not as a site of likeness or narrative, but as a mutable structure through which the act of painting itself can be examined. His works present the figure as a platform for experimentation - fragmented, reassembled, and continually rethought through process and mark-making.
Christos’ figures push away from idealisation. Faces dissolve into colour fields, bodies are manipulated and suspended within the spaces around them, and surfaces are overworked. The paintings show a materiality that speaks directly to their making and give a sensation of being built only to be eroded - a restless energy generated between construction and removal. Each figure emerges, recedes, and reasserts itself, giving the impression of never being fully resolved. This perpetual state of flux mirrors the artist’s ongoing relationship with representation.
Central to his practice is Christos’ use of the self as subject. Hours spent working in front of a mirror allows for an intimate and rigorous engagement with form - allowing for the mechanics of figurative painting to be pushed, tested, and recalibrated. Material experimentation then underpins each painting, with Christos’ unorthodox combination of acrylics over oils, deliberately reduced palettes, and creative processes, heightening the tensions between control and accident. Paint is allowed to misbehave; drips, abrasions, and awkward transitions are not corrected but accentuated within the composition, reinforcing a sense of both vigour and vulnerability.
Rather than offering traditional figuration and obvious psychological readings, each painting foregrounds materiality and uncertainty. They are not portraits of individuals so much as studies of presence - of what it means to occupy space, to be seen, and to be continually reshaped by perception. In reconsidering the figure through such an experimental and process-led approach, Christos advances a contemporary language of figuration that is both self-aware and resolutely open-ended, presenting painting that are part of a developing journey.
