Giorgos Kontis explores the tension between passivity and the outward gaze of the material construction of surface that gives rise to feelings related to not knowing the differences that are registered in the encounter of the work. In the most subdued assemblages there is the sense that something lurks beneath: a repressed image or a barely disguised underside indicting an elsewhere. Nothing is quite as it seems in this play of forces and yet the condition of the work appears to retreat into a state of withdrawal that renders mute this brooding passage to elsewhere. Is it that the work is really all in place and is such just there before our eyes and yielding to such eyes with small pleasures that might accrue?

Jonathan Miles

The work of Giorgos Kontis (b.1981 Athens) focuses on abstract painting, on its relation to a sense of a minimum and to a language that is both latent and elliptical. The function of the painted image and the relationship it may build with the beholder become central in his practice. Giorgos studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, at the Academy of Visual Arts (AdBK) in Munich and at the University of Arts (UdK) in Berlin. He holds an MFA from the St.Joost Academy in Breda, the Netherlands, and a PhD in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, on the notions of authenticity and of the image. He lives and works between Hamburg and Athens.

Recent shows include: stillstand (reminiscence), Fahrbereitschaft, Haubrok Foundation Berlin (solo, organised by Franziska Kreuzpaintner); Ground Diaries, Atelierhaus Aachen (solo, curated by Stefanie Wagner); matter: echoed, BARK Gallery Berlin Lab (solo, curated by Polina Piagin); Ground Suspended, Crama Show Space Berlin (solo); It empties, it fills, the light, V. and M. Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music (curated by Takis Mavrotas and Panos Giannikopoulos); I see something that you don't see, works from the Bergmeier Collection, Alien Athina Foundation, Kunstsaele Berlin; Encore: New Greek Painting, Municipal Gallery of Athens (curated by Eleni Koukou, Christoforos Marinos, Theofilos Tramboulis); Rebetiko, City of Athens Arts Centre (curated by Christophoros Marinos); Mother Tongue, Crux Galerie Athens (solo, curated by Katerina Nikou); fAN Archive, Vienna Art Foundation, Parallel Vienna 2018, Vienna (Exhibition concept/design by Herwig Müller); The Materiality of the Painterly Event, City of Athens Arts Centre (curated by Denys Zacharopoulos); Intervals of Stale Time, Lychee One Gallery London; Project 1 // On Authorship, Space-Projects, Amsterdam (curated by Maud Oonk); Neither Innocent Nor Guilty, Daily Lazy Projects Athens; Daybreak, Maverick Projects, Peckham London; Close, Closer, Fading, Lychee One Gallery London (curated by Jonathan Miles); O, Kunstbuero, Vienna (with Just Quist); The Same Sky, Lepsien Art Foundation, Düsseldorf; Painting Today, Vogiatzoglou Collection, Athens; Tender is The Night, CAN Gallery, Athens; Ab-stractions, Hellenic American Union Athens; Eurocontrol premises (solo), Brussels; Let Gooo project (solo, curated by Just Quist)), Ruimte Caesuur, Middelburg; Young Masters, Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium; The Static also is Electric, De Service Garage Amsterdam

Talks include: Cultural Identity, Europe & Authenticity, Royal College of Art London, With Gilane Tawadros and Luc Tuymans; Rijksakademie Open Studios, Amsterdam, with Camiel van Winkel; Authenticity in the Act of Painting Symposium, De Pont Museum Tilburg, the Netherlands; Memory and Perception, TECHNE conference, Rich Mix London; The Threatening Image, SU Royal College of Art London; Artist’s talk Ruimte Caesuur, Middelburg, Netherlands; Zone d'Utopie Temporaire - ZUT Project, Yellow Brick, Athens


Awards, Scholarships
2021 ARTWORKS Fellows
2014  Royal College of Art Bursary (2014 - 16)
2014  Constance Fairness Foundation Scholarship (2014 - 16)
2013  Finalist at YOUNG MASTERS European Graduates '08-'13, Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium
2006  Erasmus Scholarship, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich

Workshops, Seminars, Residencies
2013  Residency at Wolke, Brussels (Oct 2013 – Jan 2014)
2013  Workshop with the World of Art, School for Curators of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2007  Sculpture Symposium of the ASFA in collaboration with the UdK Berlin, Rethymno, Greece