Contemporary artist Panos Tsagaris is obsessed with time and its many facets. An Asian Curator artists interview.
My artistic practice has always been informed by my spiritual explorations and mystical curiosities. I am extremely interested in the concept of “self-transformation” as it appears in different spiritual traditions and mythologies, and how this process of self-transformation materialises itself in contemporary life, and most importantly in today’s global socio-political matrix.
Within that moment all worlds converged. Contemporary artist Panos Tsagaris. Gold leaf, acrylic, spray paint and silkscreen on canvas. 2019.
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating new work?
I find that reading and visual research helps a lot with the crystallisation of the concepts that I might be working on for a particular artwork. When I have the ideas “locked down”, I move to the translation of those concepts into visual language; that part of the process also requires additional research and lots of attempts until I get close to the desired outcome. I believe that art-making is a trial and error process, a fragile balance between a series of intuitive, emotional and calculated actions.
Please tell us a little about yourself, what brought you to the world of art and how did you start?
I come from a farmer’s family with no real background in the arts. I showed an interest in painting and drawing from an early age. In my teenage years drawing became an avenue for expression and two things became clear to me at that time: one, that I wanted to study art and, two, that I wanted to find a way to leave Greece after high school. The fact that military service in Greece was (and still is) mandatory for all males over 18, was an extra driving force to leave my homeland. Eventually, I found myself in Vancouver, Canada, where I did a BA in communication design and fine arts.
A year before my college graduation I did a summer internship at the studio of painter and Index magazine founder Peter Halley in New York. Those three months were a good intro to the life of a successful full-time artist. After my graduation I moved back to NY and started my ongoing journey in the art world.
Is there any topic lately that you would like to be mentored on?
I have always been interested in the subject of Time, and all the interpretations and illusions it contains. Since I became a father, that interest has slowly grown into an obsession. I wish to better understand and experience the many facets of time: the linear perspective of time that we experience in our everyday life, the non-linear perspective as viewed from a scientific perspective, which is very close to the non-existence of time as viewed by spirituality. Understanding the non-existence of time on a theoretical level is one thing, but fully experiencing life in the present tense is the true challenge. Children are really good at being present. It’s their default mode because they haven’t been “caged” yet to this linear, past-present-future model. Adults have to work harder to escape this model and they have to do it consciously. Meditation helps a lot towards that goal. From my short experience as a father I have also found out that interacting with children helps quite a bit to be more present in the moment.
I am an infinity in the becoming. Contemporary artist Panos Tsagaris. Silkscreen on canvas. 2015.
Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and process. What inspires you?
My artistic practice has always been informed by my spiritual explorations and mystical curiosities. I am extremely interested in the concept of “self-transformation” as it appears in different spiritual traditions and mythologies, and how this process of self-transformation materialises itself in contemporary life, and most importantly in today’s global socio-political matrix.
Through my research on various spiritual and religious traditions I feel like I have gained, among other things, a better understanding of myself, what’s my relationship to others and with the cosmos in general. This quest for self-understanding has definitely made me a better and happier person.
Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years.
I have always been interested in expressing myself through various mediums; being able to combine or jump from one medium to another has been vital to the better development of my ideas. I always focus on the concept and let it determine which medium will best translate it. In the past I have worked a lot with performances, photography and drawings. The last few years I feel like my ideas have been best translated via mixed media works on canvas and photography-based works.
Even though the focus and message of my work hasn’t changed over the years, what has changed is the visual vocabulary I chose to use to pass the message across. My early work was more didactic and straightforward in many ways, the works I have been making in the last five-six years I feel that they are conceptually and visually more enigmatic, multi-layered and open to interpretation.
Artists often experience contradicting motivations between the commercial and the creative. How do you strike a balance? How does your interaction with a curator, gallery or client evolve?
I am a full-time artist, and like any other job I do enjoy getting paid for the time, effort and resources I have put for the creation of my artworks. Having said that, making money has never been the focus or driving force behind my creative process, and I do constantly try my best to not compromise my vision and the integrity of the works in order to increase profit. I have been collaborating with institutions and museums from early on in my career as well as exhibiting with commercial galleries and showing in art fairs. I believe that both institutional and commercial venues serve a purpose and are equally needed in the development of my practice.
Nigredo. Contemporary artist Panos Tsagaris. Gold leaf on archival inkjet prints. 2018.
What was your first sale? Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery or an agent?
My first sale was over 15 years ago. It was a multi-panel photographic piece and was sold through my then gallery in Berlin, Davide Gallo gallery. I work with commercial galleries and they are the ones who handle my art sales.
Think of the biggest professional risk you have taken. What helped you take that risk?
Deciding to be an artist is the biggest professional risk I have taken in the first place. I have no regrets whatsoever and in a way I had no choice or alternative. Art-making is an internal need that cannot be suppressed or ignored. I know that it sounds like a cheesy cliché but I believe it to be true.
What is the best piece of advice you have received? Why was it helpful?
Over ten years ago in the midst of what felt like a hard time in my life, and while desperately looking for answers and closure in my various troubling issues, a close friend informed me that in life some things never get resolved, and that there is nothing wrong with that. That realisation helped me not only to accept and embrace those issues but also to eventually get over them. We often tend to see things in a black or white manner, when in reality life is more of a large grey zone.
Tell us about your studio. What kind of place is it? Could you describe your usual work day in the studio?
I recently moved into a new studio that I am really happy about. It’s located in the Greenpoint area in Brooklyn and it is quite brighter, a bit larger and more affordable than my previous one. So definitely an upgrade! I am usually in the studio at least five days a week. I first drop off my elder daughter to school and I am usually in my studio by 9-9:15 am. I stay there till 5:30 pm and then go to pick her up. The fact that I have a strict time window to work in the studio has forced me to become more productive and efficient with my studio time.
I have a little rite that I do when I first enter my studio. It involves a short meditation session and a series of ritualistic body moves. The goal of this routine is primarily to cleanse myself and the studio from any distracting energies or thoughts that I might have picked up from the outside world, and to help me get into a more focussed state of mind before I start working. I usually work only on one piece at the time. I feel like that way I give all of my attention and focus on that one artwork, instead of having to split it between numerous works. Maybe, I am just not that good at multitasking.
The Pathless Truth. Contemporary artist Panos Tsagaris. Gold leaf, acrylic, ink and silkscreen on canvas. 2019.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
I am currently part of this beautiful exhibition which just opened up a few days ago in Los Angeles. The exhibition is titled Pineal Eye infection and is curated by Aaron Moulton. The show features a great group of artists whose practice enables magical thinking and questions the nature of the creative impulse. The exhibition will be running until the end of March at the Seasons, in the Chinatown area in LA.
I also part of this survey exhibition titled Truthiness and the News at the DeCordova Museum curated by Sam Adams. The Truthiness and the News show explores the evidentiary role of photography, from the heyday of newsprint in the first half of the twentieth century to the current age of post-truth politics, presaging the contemporary turn to “alternative facts” and “fake news.”
I have a solo exhibition at the Teloglion Foundation in Greece, scheduled to open at the Beginning of September. At the end of the same month I will be participating at the first Biennial of Contemporary Art in Yerevan, curated by Lorenzo Fusi. At the biennial I will be presenting a larger version of a multi-panel works that was first exhibited at my last solo exhibition at Kalfayan Gallery in Athens. I am also working on a collaborative project that will be presented at a group exhibition at the museum of Contemporary Art in Athens in the spring and will be curated by the members of the Greek AICA (Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art). The exhibited project will be a collaboration with artist Georgia Kotretsos and curator and AICA member, Maria Nicolacopoulou. There are a couple of other projects in the making but I can’t talk about them just yet.
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.