CHRIST TODAY

…Warlamis once again surprises us with a subject that goes beyond the conventional concepts that define contemporary artistic creation and confronts us with perhaps the greatest challenge that an artist can offer, to put faith at the center of his work, to approach such a subject in a modern way and with awareness of the era and to manage to transfer it into images…

…The depictions of Christ in Professor Warlamis’ exhibition, portraits, more narrative compositions, plastic works, are unique creations, several times recalling works of art by great painters who were created in time, combining the earthly with the transcendental, in reality creating new images that move and teach.

The gaze of Christ, always the same, imprinted by the inexhaustible source of inspiration of Warlamis, is the gaze of modern man, who experiences a tragedy of unimaginable intensity. It becomes, is, the cry of crucified humanity. When I heard my music identified with all these shocking images, I realized that until then I did not know the quintessence of the works I had composed. Indeed, we are faced with a shocking discovery, which reveals to us a completely new form of art. Thank you, Makis Warlamis. I am grateful to you.

Warlamis' art does not strive to positively portray the historical evidence of the gospel. Consequently, he is not interested in photographic representation or systematic annotation of them…. …The painter illuminates rather than narrates, expresses himself rather than records, rather testifies rather than narrates, lives, moves, believes, loves, converses, struggles, communes in the resurrection light. He does not renounce the freedom of a deep personal relationship with people and things. The central position of the Word of God in his work is a matter of free personal relationship. The viewer who stands before his work effortlessly feels the same. The artist naturally experiences the Papadiamantis “I sing with adoration my Christ,” while the music-loving viewer is enlightened by grace and to the extent of his participation by the image of the light from above, that which emanates “from the Father of Lights.” In this sense, the painter bravely bears witness to his own spirituality and theology. In my humble opinion, among other things, his views can creatively challenge contemporary ecclesiastical painting, which sometimes “floods” between formalism and the search for meaning. Ultimately, with his work and with the present exhibition, although he did not programmatically pursue it, he becomes an educator and a “beacon of light”.