CACT E-STUDIO
It was a moment, and it passed.
I already see the furniture around me, the old designs on the wallpaper, the sun through the dirty windows. I saw the truth for a moment ... Not knowing oneself is living. Knowing oneself badly is thinking. Knowing about oneself suddenly, as in this glowing moment, is suddenly to have the notion of the intimate monad, the magic word of the soul.
F. Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Clarity, a challenge for every thinker; to be able to see the world and life clearly, to not misconstrue reality, to fit harmoniously into it. Stratos Ntontsis’ work is precisely that. A clear, neat and realistic look to reality itself – sometimes too realistic.
His photographs carry the peace of acceptance, as well as the concern of the critical gaze. They are almost existential images, thorough in their synthesis, rich in their semantics; images that may mean nothing to some but everything to others. Just like that.
The way Ntontsis confronts reality is like a whisper, overlooking unnecessary details or tensions. He is consistently focused on a familiar powerful dipole, archetypal and entirely essential; power and weakness.
Bizarre scenes of a still life-memento mori in an unembellished frame; a “juicy” sunset, white crosses, symbols and monuments of a suffering reality. Images of life, scenes, thoughts, symbols of the need for harmony, details of a world that is surrounded by a weak fence and strives for balance.
It is inevitable to correlate the abovementioned with a collapsing country that, however, seeks balance, tries to find solutions, has the strength of acceptance, interpretation and subversion of reality, and certainly does not remain passive.
Through the power of his surrealistic images and photographs, Ntontsis introduces us to the power of meaning: personal and political, tender and harsh, protected and exposed. His work captures and directs scenes from everyday life; objects, people, landscapes. Above and beyond all, he introduces us the directness of a restless gaze.
Do not keep yours idle.
A.L.
