UNSEEN WORK
Michalis Orphanos
29 September – 12 October 2018
Curated by: Kyriakos Theocharous, Anna-Maria Charalambous
Text: Andreas Nicolaou
The exhibition MICHALIS ORFANOS-UNSEEN WORK, constitutes the first individual exposition of the artist, who passed away in 1996, at the age of thirty-one. All the works chosen have in mind the artist’s artistic journey featuring, study work with charcoal, landscapes, life drawings with oil, portraits and human figures. As the artist, Andreas Nicolaou points out:
“…Michalis was not only a gifted painter but an artist throughout his entire life. He was an exceptional person whose sense of beauty was interwoven with his existence. His presence, his art space and his artwork were enchanting… Michalis managed to make time mysteriously meaningful and worthwhile. He preferred to experiment and look for fathomless roads that were certitude and trialled about their content and quality. But Michalis was more than that. His infallible sense of beauty stretches out beyond his artwork, in every moment and part of his everyday life…”
The exhibition ‘Unseen Work’, states the presence of the artist and through his artwork; he will be introduced to the public even in his absence. The art itself becomes the protagonist projecting both the artist’s educational background and aesthetics.
Brief CV
Michalis Orphanos (1965-1996) was born on 17.06.1965 and has origins from the village of Akanthous, in the Famagusta district. After the Turkish invasion in 1974 he moved with his family in Limassol. He graduated from the Fifth Gymnasium of Limassol. Since his early childhood his talent in art was obvious. As a student he took up painting and sculpture. He was a student of Maro Sokratous and later on he attended lessons with the well-known painter Lefteris Economou (1930-2007). After completing his military service he moved to Beijing to attend art lessons at the University with a scholarship from the Chinese government. Later on, he was accepted at the Athens School of Fine Arts where he was a student of the famous Greek artist and professor, Panagiotis Tetsis(1925-2016). After graduating, he returned to Cyprus, in Limassol where he worked until his death. He has participated in group exhibitions in Cyprus, Greece and the Netherlands. His works are exhibited in many galleries and private collections. On March 12, 1996, after illness, he lost the battle with life.
