Figure 1978

Nikos Nikolaou made this painting, “Figure,” using earth toned colours. The artist has captured the figure of a woman resting on a dark surface. I wonder what Nikolaou was thinking as he painted this reclining form? The paint has a thin, chalky quality, but it's the drawn lines defining the woman's body that really get me. Each contour seems to be searching for its final shape, echoing and adjusting, a bit like memory itself. The artist seems to be questioning as he is drawing. The slightly elongated limbs and simplified features remind me of other modernists grappling with form and representation. It's like he is in conversation with Picasso or even some ancient Cycladic sculptors. We painters, we’re always looking back, remixing the past to find something new. Each mark, each line is a record of that searching.