10 colored drawings for the poems of George Seferis 1965

Editor: This is "10 colored drawings for the poems of George Seferis," a 1965 drawing by Yiannis Moralis. It’s rendered in ink on paper, and I'm struck by its somewhat somber and abstract figuration. It reminds me a little bit of a café scene. What jumps out at you? Curator: Well, looking at this from a materialist perspective, I see a deliberate exploration of the production and consumption of imagery itself. The ink, the paper—these are accessible, mass-produced materials. Notice how the geometric shapes almost flatten the figures, turning them into patterns within a consumer space, the cafe you mentioned. Does this speak to a certain social reality of 1960s Greece, perhaps? Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's interesting you say that. The drawing does seem to deliberately avoid idealizing anything; it feels almost… practical. The way the artist uses fairly common supplies also makes me think about labor: his, and potentially, in relation to the cafe scene depicted. Curator: Exactly. And that practicality pushes back against the more precious aura often associated with "high art." How do the specific artistic *choices* – the ink, the paper, the flat planes of color - shape our understanding of the people represented within the drawing? Are they celebrating leisure, or merely participating in another form of work, the social consumption of public life? Editor: That's a fascinating question. I initially just saw a café, but your point about labor and the flattening of the figures changes everything. It's not just a scene; it’s a commentary on social structures. Curator: It makes us question the traditional boundaries of art and lived experience. Considering materials and process pushes us to think about whose stories get told, and *how*. Editor: Right. I’ll definitely look at Moralis’s work differently now, thinking more about the choices made in terms of material and what social context that evokes. Curator: And how these choices invite us to engage critically with what’s represented. That’s what makes art history exciting!