Flowers in Space, 1994

Albert White Gallery, Toronto Canadian Corporate Collection

Angelos Panayiotou studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens under Yiogros Mavroidis. However, it would be his subsequent travels abroad and visits to the grand museums of Europe that would greatly influence his work. The years 1988 until 2002 was a significant period for the artist, where he focused his subject matter on the art of the still life. Carrying on the traditions of the still life painters of the past, he has created a lush, seductive composition comprised of several fruits tumbling out of a woven basket, framed by a crown of foliage, nestled in a white cloth. His slick handling of the paint surface and pictorial arrangement similarly follows in the footsteps of the still life tradition of the Dutch masters. However, he has created a paradox by giving the impression that the tabletop, upon which the arrangement sits on, floats in a starry sky. Still life painting first flourished in the Netherlands in the 1600s, with artists creating technically impressive works representing wealth and ladened with symbolism. Throughout the history of art, fruits and plants have come to carry different meanings. Here the artist depicts various varieties of fruit, which are considered significant in Christianity. Grapes have a symbolic link to Jesus Christ and the blood of Christ, but they also can mean fidelity and, therefore, are associated with the Virgin Mary. Peaches can represent spring, fertility and new life, while a melon can symbolize fertility. Whereas figs and fig leaves have come to represent Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden, since some people believed a fig was the forbidden fruit rather than the apple.