'Lucy in the Sky,' by Demetrios Papakostas, Oil on Canvas Painting

This 48" x 36" abstract oil painting by Canadian artist, Demetrios Papakostas, is inspired by music of the Beatles and is part of a series titled 'Color Fields Forever.' "Kaleidoscope eyes, magical mystery tours - it was John Lennon who instilled in me his message to love and not hate and being a Beatles fan, that’s all it took to create this series of works all named after Beatles songs." - Demetrios Papakostas

Artist Statement:
Color as place – a shimmering place where our minds move between the personal and the universal. A space where the inward search and the interpersonal hum and dance, moving us ever forward as seekers alone and together.

On the surface. Color. Form. Lines. Fine lines and choices. And feeling my way forward. As artist. As human. Each line creating direction. Each color vibrating with profound depth or uplifting force.

Then meeting. Two different colors touching. Sometimes drawing us down into the painting, below the surface, and into ourselves; other times the colors holding each other in place, reverberating with a vital tension; or subtly enhancing each other, moving outward and beyond the surface. Into the unknown.

My artistic choices are primarily focused on possibilities for using form, surface, and space, to initiate conversations around the color experience and perception of color-spatial. Using primarily geometric forms, this expression then becomes a gateway to new exploration conveying movement and the discovery of the unexpected.

Though each piece has a definite beginning, the work rarely allows me to know what direction it will take or when it will be complete. Primarily working in oil, I start by building layers of forms and color and proceed intuitively, continuously changing, covering up, even discarding certain elements as I proceed.

Constantly rethinking and reworking the surface fascinates me and working the surface in this way is an important step, as it is my internal search for the necessary and intangible connection with the work.

My work is my response, my need to communicate insights into our journey through life and the issues we face as we make that voyage. There are questions of religion, spirituality, purpose and the ultimate mystery of the afterlife and how it manifests in our daily lives.

Demetrios Papakostas is a Canadian painter who makes abstract paintings characterized by his passion for bold technical investigation, colour spatial and perception. He works primarily in oil and watercolour and is interested in creating work that highlights his passion for geometric abstraction and colour field paintings. His thoughtful inquiry into the subtleties of the relationship between abstract thinking and the human condition, are characteristic of his deeply held conviction that art must speak from, and to, heart, mind and soul.

Born in 1960 in Montreal, Canada, Demetrios first became interested in the arts after visiting an artist’s studio while on a family trip to Greece. The artist Tassos Loukithis, was a family friend and it was there after seeing multiple paintings and struck by the beauty of many religious icons hung up all over the artist’s studio that he decided he wanted to draw and paint. He studied portrait drawing, watercolour and abstraction at the Visual Arts Center in Montreal with Nicole Lebel, Heather Yamada, and with prominent Canadian painter Harold Klunder, and also taking various art classes at the Saidye Bronfman Center for the Arts, and at the University of Concordia night art school.

Recently he was invited to be included on ‘GeoForm’, a website dedicated to featuring prominent artists working primarily in geometric abstraction and colour field painting from around the world. He has been a teacher’s assistant to Heather Yamada at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In March 2020 he collaborated with fellow artist and friend Gianni Giuliano, to organize and curate the group exhibition titled “diver(s)gence” his first curatorial project, and something which he considers to be an important accomplishment as he strives to continue to look to take on new roles and challenges.

Demetrios has been participated in exhibitions since 2003 at Gallery Latitude 44 in Toronto, and at the Visual Arts Centre, Galerie Espace, and Galerie E.K. Voland, Galerie Beaux Arts des Ameriques and Galerie Erga in Montreal and Galerie de la Ville, Gallery ArtZone 42 in Athens, Greece. His artwork was also selected to appear in a Quebec-made film, entitled “Sur le Rythme”.
His work is collected by and present in several businesses, corporations and private homes.