If we wanted to define the work of Dimitris Xonoglou in terms of aesthetic formalism, we would say that it belongs to the new documentary painting, the descendant of surrealism in its expressionist negotiation. Often, for this new documentary painting, especially for the artists of his generation – the generation of the ’80s – the terms new expressionism, new phobia, art barbarism, transavangardia are used.

At a time when there is a lot of talk of a crisis in art, is the return to the practice of painting – an undisputed, international phenomenon, supported by many theorists and promoted by art dealers – a statement of the crisis or does it mean overcoming it? It is true that in the new documentary painting there is an external reconnection with avant-garde of the beginning of the century and especially with expressionism and surrealism. But beyond this external reconnection, such an artistic expression today, it is certain that it rewrites creatively and therefore reshapes the values of the past and not just the aesthetics. If we determined the percentage of this creative deposit, we would find the stigma of the era of the generation of the ’80s, beyond vulnerable concepts such as avant-garde or decline in art. It seems that it is still too early for such an assessment to be made later and of course through terms that will not only concern art.

With Dimitris Xonoglou we have an artist who, connected with myths and theological experiences – classic generative sources of art creation – secularizes them.

It has the ability to keep a distance from ideological systems and modern technological myths and others. However, his direct connection with archetypal matrices does not prevent him from objectifying his consciousness, illuminating it and thus controlling the limits of his freedom. This is achieved because he does not lose the perception of the modern world around him, which necessarily acts in a restrictive way to this freedom, while at the same time it dictates current forms of expression and contemplation.

His work, made of hot colored matter, is an attempt to penetrate the tragedy of existence.

From the fluidity of his painting material, his figures are molded, clearly described, as a continuation of the background. Saints of Orthodoxy – indefinable deities of the Eastern pantheon, shaped and through depictions of ritual elements – demons and strange creatures – workers of the dead, Sisyphus deposed, connoisseurs of the world process, exponents of the other aspect of the “divine grace” – mocking magicians and perverts of the elements of knowledge, suckers of human action and energy – protoplasmic forms – extraterrestrial, ectoplasmic and protein creatures, suspicions of another life organization with earthly stigma, cohesive web of cosmic beings, personally, occult teachings and religious beliefs, combined with biological aspects of becoming.

Thus, its subject matter and the way it is performed, reveal to us an agonizing art that resurrects tragic events, the opposition of the human from the divine, their reconciliation, their dialectical unity, the mediation between life and death.

Thessaloniki, March ’85

Thalia Stefanidou – Dimitrakopoulou

Art theorist