![Aris Kalaizis, 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Aris_Kalaizis%2C_2010.JPG)
Aris Kalaizis ( gr, Άρης Καλαϊζής, born 1966 in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
) is a figurative Greek-German painter. He is associated with the
New Leipzig School The New Leipzig School (german: Neue Leipziger Schule) is a movement in German painting, centred in the city of Leipzig after the German reunification. The usage and origins of this term are debated.
History and characteristics
The Leipzig School ( ...
. Art price of German Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken.
Biography
Aris Kalaizis grew up, as the son of a Greek political immigrants (
Greek civil war
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...
), in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. His parents came in 1949 as children as a result of the Greek civil war (1946-1949) to Leipzig.
After an apprenticeship in
offset printing
Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on t ...
and later having been trained as a photo technician, he began his studies in painting in 1992 under the supervision of Prof.
Arno Rink
Arno Rink (26 September 1940 – 5 September 2017) was a German painter. He was accepted to the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB) in 1962 and studied under Werner Tübke, Hans Mayer-Foreyt and Harry Blume. He is associated with t ...
and his assistant
Neo Rauch
Neo Rauch (born 18 April 1960, in Leipzig, East Germany; ) is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes ...
at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst
' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...
), from which he graduated with summa cum laude in 1997.
He was a master student of Arno Rink from 1997 to 2000. His first individual public exhibition took place in 2005 and was curated by the
Marburger Kunstverein.
In 2007 he presented his works in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for the first time. International recognition followed, after his participation at the
Biennale di Venezia
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
(12. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura) as well as at the 4th triennial in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
(
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
). The internationally oriented triennial, which took place at the
Guangdong Museum
The Guangdong Museum () is a general museum of Cantonese art, nature, culture and history in Guangzhou.
History Old building
The Guangdong Provincial Museum was located on 215 Wenming Rd. (), in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, on which was the o ...
, offered Kalaizis a very large room, in order to present eight large-sized paintings. The most exceptional exhibition so far however was arranged at the palace grounds in
Greiz
Greiz () is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of state capital Jena, on the river ''White Elster''.
Greiz has a large park in its center (Fürstl ...
(Schlossmuseum Greiz) and was titled, “The Double View.” In
Greiz
Greiz () is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of state capital Jena, on the river ''White Elster''.
Greiz has a large park in its center (Fürstl ...
, Kalaizis confronted the historical rooms and premises with modern art. In 2014, a comprehensive museum tour through Germany, Austria and the Netherlands took place.
In 2014/15 he painted ''The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew or the double Martyrdom''. This large-size painting has been in the
Frankfurt Cathedral
Frankfurt Cathedral (german: link=no, Frankfurter Dom), officially Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew (german: link=no, Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus) is a Roman Catholic Gothic church located in the heart of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It ...
since February 2015.
Influences have come to Aris in the person of his professor, during his studies, but in the most recent years, he increasingly has been inspired by the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
painter
Jusepe de Ribera
Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...
and the British artist
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
. He lives and works in Leipzig as a professional painter since 2000.
Works
![Make Believe 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Make_Believe_2009.jpeg)
Kalaizis constructs his paintings, which are often elicited by dreams, with the aid of elaborate staging and by building up large scale scenes at the place of the imagined action. In this process a number of preliminary photographs are taken, from which the final painting is developed. His scenes sometimes appear to be surreal, but he unfolds their subject carefully over a long time. He writes down the ideas that will or will not surface in his paintings in form of a screenplay.
[''Der Leipziger Maler Aris Kalaizis''.](_blank)
In: ''Marburger Forum'', Jg.6 (2005), Heft 2 The result of this uncommonly slow creative process are painted images depicting idealized prospects and possibilities of inner worlds.
At the beginning of his work however there is a
dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
, which evokes an inner image or inner desire. After this image has in some way been clearly envisioned, he builds a large scale model of this image in his atelier or seeks out this vision in scenes, places, or constellations in the
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
of the world outside the atelier. He then searches for something (mostly a background) that is closest to his “desired background.” As soon as this has been found, he takes photos of that place. What follows, is a meditative and contemplative process that aims at scenes that could have taken place before and after the scene to be depicted. This approach distinguishes Kalaizis fundamentally from the
photorealists, as they do not challenge the fringes of reality, where something new may happen.
Antithesis
Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...
is the most formative structural principle in his work, whereby the painted arrangements, which are achieved in this workflow, challenge and question that which is depicted, in order to bring forth a nuanced project of renewal. This elaborate procedure of course is incredibly time-consuming, only resulting in about five paintings per year. It brings forth scenes that are parallel projects of that which exists in reality. It is a deliberate strategy that is contrary to the mass production of many contemporary artists. But because his paintings could hardly be entirely classified under
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
or
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
, the American art historian,
Carol Strickland
Carol Ann Colclough Strickland (born 1946) is an American art historian who currently resides in New York City.
Strickland graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis (Tennessee) in 1968. She studied English literature and earned a PhD from the Un ...
, developed the term “
sottorealism
The term Sottorealism (''sotto'' Italian for “beneath” or “under” and the Latin ''realis'' “concerning the thing;” ''res'' “thing, object”) describes an approach in contemporary aesthetics. It has been developed with respect to pain ...
,” based on Kalaizis' work. In this context, “sotto” refers to “beyond” or “below” and points to the hidden mystery that exists behind the depicted surface of the painting. Life and death, dream and reality are in a strange confluence here. Emerging out of this process, his paintings then bring forth a certain delirium, a disruption of the inner equilibrium. The paintings are often charged by a strange ferocity, in which everything takes place at the same time: magic, grace, harmony, and an unfathomable abyss. Kalaizis often mentions the surrealist
André Masson
André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist.
Biography
Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...
in interviews and discussions, who once said: “Nothing is more fantastic than reality.”
[Ausstellungsgespräch Aris Kalaizis_Max Lorenzen_Marburg 2007]
Awards and honors
*1997 State scholarship from the German State of Saxony
*2001 Art prize from the "Volks and Raiffeisenbank"
*2005 USA (Columbus, OH) foreign scholarship from the Ministry of Science and Art.
*2007
ISCP-Residency, New York City, USA
*2016 China-scholarship, Beijing
Monographs
*''Of Gradual Reconciliation'', catalogue, 1997 Artco-Ed., Leipzig 1997, (Germ./Engl.)
*''Athletik und Sinnmonarchie'', catalogue, 2000, maerzgalerie (Germ./Engl.)
*''Brancard'' catalogue, 2003, maerzgalerie, (Germ./Engl.)
*''Uncertain Pursuits'', catalogue, 2005, Marburg/Leipzig /Germ./Engl.)
*''Rubbacord'', catalogue, 2006, Kerber-Ed., Bielefeld/Leipzig 2006, (Germ./Engl.)
*''Making Sky'', monograph with catalogue raisonné 1995–2009, 2009, Hirmer-Ed., München 2009, (Germ./Engl.)
*''The Double View'', catalogue at the Schloßmuseum Greiz, 2011,
*''The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial'' catalogue. Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Guangzhou, 2011 (Chin./Engl)
*''Sottorealism''. Large-size monograph with catalogue raisonné (1994–2014).
Paul-Henri Campbell
Paul-Henri Campbell (born 1982) is a German-American author. He is a bilingual author of poetry and prose in English and German. He studied classical philology, with a concentration on ancient Greek, as well as Catholic theology at the National U ...
(ed.), Imhof-Ed., Petersberg, (dt./engl.)
Interviews
*„Europe is Dead. Long Life Europe". A political discussion about Europe, Greece and other crisi
2016
*„There should always be doubt”„(2014), http://www.ageofartists.org/portfolio-item/always-doubt-interview-aris-kalaizis-short-version/, 22 December 2014
*„East German expressionism„(2006), http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0929/p11s02-alar.html
*„I am not a disciple of any school". In GermanwingsMag, 200
*„Gettersby". A Leipzig painter in NYC (2007), https://web.archive.org/web/20071208134131/http://www.hustlerofculture.com/me_we/2007/10/nyc---gettersby.html
*„My Driving Force is my Impatience". From monograph „Making Sky" (Hirmer-Ed.), 200
''Aris Kalaizis. Skizzen zu einer nachmodernen Ästhetik. Ein Traktat.''Marburger Forum, Jg. 8/2007, Heft 2
*„Aris Kalaizis in Leipzig und Berlin" (2009), https://www.welt.de/die-welt/article3831413/Maerzgalerie-zeigt-Aris-Kalaizis-in-Leipzig-und-Berlin.html
*„Der Leipziger Maler Aris Kalaizis" (2005), http://www.philosophia-online.de/mafo/heft2005-2/Aris_Kalaizis.htm
In: ''
Tagesspiegel
''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, s ...
online'', 20 September 2011
Notes
External links
Official Website of Aris KalaizisAn interview with Aris Kalaizis at
Kreuzer-Magazine, March 2009
Aris Kalaizisat
Maerzgalerie
Die Ausstellung „Der doppelte Blick“ im Schloßmuseum GreizMarburger Forum, 8/2007, Volume 2
In: ''
Kreuzer
The Kreuzer (), in English usually kreutzer ( ), was a coin and unit of currency in the southern German states prior to the introduction of the German gold mark in 1871/73, and in Austria and Switzerland. After 1760 it was made of copper. In s ...
'' – Leipziger Stadtmagazin, 31. March 2009
''Aris Kalaizis in Leipzig und Berlin''.In: ''
Die Welt
''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...
online'', 30. May 2009
''Leipziger Ansichten in Düsseldorf''.In: ''
Rheinische Post
''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine- ...
online'', 20. January 2011
''Müssen Kunst und Kirchen Widerspruch sein''.In: ''
Tagesspiegel
''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, s ...
online'', 20. September 2011
''Vorgetäuschte Realität''.In: ''
Neues Deutschland
''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.
For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...
'', 12. June 2009
;Documentaries
ZDF - Artistportrait by Beate Tyron (2011)Aris Kalaizis "Sotto" eine Documentary by Ferdinand Richter with English subtitles (2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalaizis, Aris
1966 births
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German male painters
21st-century German painters
21st-century German male artists
Living people
German people of Greek descent
German contemporary artists
Greek contemporary artists
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig alumni
Artists from Leipzig