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Nicolas Sphicas, the well-known Greek painter, presented recently his retrospective exhibition for the period 1984-2007. The event took place at the Municipal Library of Thessaloniki between 15th February-8th March of 2008. It was an interesting event that drew a wide attention of the public and was covered by the local TV and press. The exhibition included works from all sources of inspiration of the artist, a central place between them being occupied by chess. With this occasion, Nicolas gave the following interview to Christos Kefalis. Christos: «Nicolas, tell us a few words about your recent exhibition. How did the public respond to it?» Nicolas SPHICAS: «The exhibition presented a course that started from Egypt, continued in Switzerland and culminated here in Greece. The starting point was 1984. Although some works of mine had received distinctions prior to that year, I considered myself not mature enough to exhibit my former work. So, through that course, the public had an opportunity to see at first place the variety of subjects and techniques and, further, the development of chess related conception. This variety had as a result that the public acquired also a variety of impressions. Most visitors wandered twice through the exhibition area, to end up to the room they preferred most. I ought to say that the works had been divided in unities and also by chronology. The central room included the “Retro-shah unity”.» Christos: «1984-2007, almost 25 years of creative work. Definitely, it is a suitable moment for a small account…» Nicolas SPHICAS: «Naturally, and not only for that. Every work is a snapshot. In composing them, your life is projected as a movie. Each line reminds you of a story and each color a different dream. In this way, strangely, the works go back to moments and not the other way round. Each event of my life is related in my thought with one or more paintings and this becomes a reason to return to that period.» Christos: «What did chess give to you as an artist through all these years? How did your chess inspiration evolve in time?» Nicolas SPHICAS: «Chess was never to me just a game. It was mainly a way of thought, or, if you prefer, a way of life, of behavior, of relaxation. Let me add that my love for art was always connected with my passion for geometry. On the one hand, I was fascinated by the fact of the aim of finding each move being, between other things, to exhaust all possible alternatives of the opponent and, on the other, it’s correspondence to geometry with it’s mathematical consequences. Here I consider myself lucky, because no one of the not few painters who played chess, like Marcel Duchamp, Magritte, our own Fotis Mastihiadis, Max Ernst etc, was inspired by chess games. As a result, I created a new aspect in art, without however the wish to exhaust it as others did, e.g. Picasso with cubism. Also, I always read chess-related history and recently I have completed a 3-tome work with the subject “Paintings with chess themes from 15th to 20th century”. This knowledge of mine, the chess games that inspire me, various objects like idols, animals, musical organs, etc, as well as my contacts with chess players, are the elements that determine the course of development of my inspiration.» Christos: «You have included most of your chess work under you own invented term of “Retro-Shah”. Tell us a few words about the meaning of this concept.» Nicolas SPHICAS: «Retro-Shah is an artistic trend related to movement in chess. The name comes from Retro, which means comeback or return, and Shah, the King. I used this term in 1993 to describe chess paintings of mine expressing the emotions stemming from the metaphysical world of movement on the chessboard. These works proceed from an intuitive understanding of a game or a phase in the solution of a problem, representing the spiritual energy concentrated through the movement of pieces in the space-time dimensions of the chessboard.» Christos: «The chess game is full of tensions between order and chaos, clarity and complication, etc. How do you think are these tensions reflected in your chess works and in chess-inspired paintings in general?» Nicolas SPHICAS: «Through time, my approach to the rational thought of chess moves as well as to the chaotic areas of the game was a source of emotional inspiration to me. This was the motivation for the creation of Retro-Shah. Essentially, it is a language of expression that presupposes the anatomy of the structural connections between the combinations and the strategy applied by each chess player. I believe that not only the wealth of intensity but of emotions as well in all conflicts is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for every art. In Retro-Shah theory one can read in which way I present this intensity, how the geometrical shapes created by chess pieces are transformed to fine art figures, but also how emotions generated by moves flow like a wave in the chessboard.» Christos Kefalis ************ If you like music, you may choose now a fine background Music:
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