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Nicholas
Ladommatos studied Graphic Arts & Visual Communication. With about
25 paintings that he is exhibiting, he is expanding in the field of
geometrical abstraction, a field that is distinguished for its
aesthetic criteria. The painter comes from an artistic family. Like
other Cypriot artists, who come from artistic families, he doesn't
seem to follow his father's steps, but has managed to create his
personal mark in this difficult field of geometrical abstraction.
Nevertheless, he seems to have inherited his father's feel for
perfection, being a perfectionist himself. To what I said before he
is trying to reach perfection, he is a perfectionist, like his
father.
The technique he is using is referring to abstract art as it was first
introduced by painters like Kandinsky and Mondrian. Abstraction of
course dates further back in time. It is a more general art movement
exploring the wonder of the perfect shape and space, the harmony of
colours and textures.
This technique was introduced in Cyprus by the second generation of
Cypriot artists in the late 1950s and during the first years of
Democracy . Nicholas Ladommatos seems to be continuing that
technique quite successfully.
The search for perfection with the use of some general or subjective
rules does not always lead to a homogeneous and consistent result.
The final creation emerges through the choices that the artist makes
during the process of deep thinking and idea formation. Through the
juxtaposition of different media like acrylic paint, aluminium, sand
mortar, Nicholas Ladommatos creates extraordinary forms. With the
detailed use of straight lines, rectangular, circular shapes and the
contrast between grey and earth colours as well as more striking and
vivid colours (yellow and greens), the composition is completed. The
circles are freely floating assigning another dimension to the
painting. They give the impression of planets or something cosmic.
There is an interesting ambiguity of optical illusions between the
foreground and the background, as sometimes the foreground can be
seen as the background and vice versa. The amalgamation of all these
elements in a painting is the final aim of the painter, in order to
aesthetically please the viewer.
I have mentioned earlier that the artist is using mixed media. He also
often alternates his brushstroke. This way, he creates special
effects that cannot be achieved with flat colours or with strokes
that do not have "movement".
Nicholas Ladommatos' works of art - and especially the colours he is
using - have a lot to do with our country, where all seasons are
colourful and bright. The spring with the green fields and the wild
flowers, summer with the hay fields and the crystal blue sea waters,
the fall with the red, yellowish, orange leafs falling from the
trees and winter of course with its grey and gloomy colours and the
rain-washed skies.
His first solo exhibition can be easily characterised as a very correct
beginning, a solid first step to the never-ending and all-embracing
world of art.
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