Vasilis Soulis was born in Athens
He has participated in various group exhibitions
such as ‘New Arrivals’, the Art Gallery ‘Expression Joanna Grammatopoulou’ and
‘Aegina painters’, the Historical and Folklore Museum of Aegina (2008), the
‘Secret Room’ in Thanassis Frissiras Art Gallery (2009), the ‘Naked Truth’ in
Frissiras Museum and the ‘Human Action’ at the Cultural Centre of the City of
Athens ‘Melina’ (2010), the ‘Human Resources’ in Frissiras Museum and ‘A
Saturday in Athens’ in Genesis gallery and the ‘Face to Face’ in Frissiras
Museum (2012), the ‘Multiple Shades’ in Thanassis Frissiras Art Gallery, ‘The Garden’s
Secrets’ in Ianos in Athens and the ‘90 postcards for Smyrna’ in Ianos Gallery in
Thessaloniki and the exhibition ‘Talking about the future’ in the Cultural Centre of the City of Athens ‘Melina’ (2013), the ‘New Gazes’ in Atrion Art Gallery in Thessaloniki (2014).
He has presented his work in a solo
exhibition in Athens in the ‘Expression- Joanna Grammatopoulou’
Art Gallery
The images Vasilis Soulis sculpts with his paintbrush
reflect the perpetual battle of representation with abstraction, the real with
the imaginary that began in the late 19th century and has not yet, thankfully,
stopped because it is about a battle that has to do with the man himself.
In his works we recognize the embodied
knowledge of old Flemish masters, the pioneers of realism, impressionism and
expressionism. We see faces that emerge through rash strokes and figures that
sink without being lost in them. They stand against us and look us in the eyes
without shame. Through the juxtaposition of dark and light tones, the mannerism
of their body posture and the clear, tangible texture of their clothes, they
project the feeling that pervades them: the pain, despair, fatigue, tenderness
and love. His portraits are faces sculpted in Francis Bacon’s dark manner
whereas their bodies are portrayed with a restrained sensuality similar to
Egon’s Schiele. We have all of us, at some point met them, approached and later
repressed and forgotten them. The deliberate alteration of their traits and their
unconventional appearance leads us, according to Bacon, to the liberating
function of memory where we can find the essence of life.
Lida Kazantzaki
Newspaper: Avgi
