CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS
Exhibiting Soho Galleries and Art Melbourne
ALEXANDRA SPYRATOS EXHIBITION
Alexandra Spyratos was born in
Kenya where she lived most of her life surrounded by the exotic beauty and
wilderness of Africa. Based between
Byron Bay, Australia and Malindi, Kenya, Alexandra has made two tranquil
corners of the world her base, painting in her studios for exhibitions
worldwide.
Influenced by her colorful
background, translating the heat and the
exotic beauty of the African wildlife to canvas has become Spyratos' passion
and spiritual goal. This prolific artist has become known for her colorful,
bold and individual style. Her paintings rich and heavily layered with
fluorescent paint and thick oils, recreate the physicality of the wild that
inspires her.
It is this deep inspiration
from the heart of Africa that has emerged in Alexandra’s oil painting of the
wildlife and has evolved into and original painting style that straddles all
genre and is uniquely her own. In the words of well know art critic Miraim
Cristaldi, “In all these journeys across
the most diverse countries and continents, this nomadic artist has seen and
studied colour in all its territorial changes and expressive possibilities, and
it has become a basic part of her artistic research. Her works have to be
placed in that area of lyrical abstractions that runs from Kandinsky to
Dorazio: the form of things, though having a strictly figurative aim, is
essentially geometric and two dimensional. Her poetic world seems veiled by a
cool mental image and, by way of a distilled personal inventiveness,
orchestrates a chromatic symphony similar to the sensibility of postmodern
aesthetics.”
Her artistic presentation of
the elephant, ostrich, flamingo, giraffe and predominantly the regal zebra,
swirls about and leaps to her palette in representational form. One views the
regality of figure, the splendor and passion of the zebra, rearing off into a
universal abstraction that searches through shape and form for manifestation of
beauty, movement, heat and desire.
Her medium now sees a diverse
direction from fluorescence to minimal whites and more recently, into the
elegance and glamour of gold, silver and copper leaf combined with the
fluorescence. The combination is dynamic and adds a fresh and energetic
dimension to her art. The shine and shimmer of gold, copper and silver seems
reflective of the heat of the artists Savannah homelands and the technique
create a glamorous feel to the art aptly termed “bohemian chic”.
With twenty-seven solo shows
behind her Alexandra has become known for her contemporary and decorative
style, bold, textured and uniquely her own.
Presently based predominantly
in Kenya, Alexandra is in the heart of her passion and a stone throw away from
the wildlife that is the essence of her inspiration.
