The Path of Dimitris Pikionis

In Piraeus one day, as I was returning to my father's house, I was intensely aware of the sun scorching my skin; then I stepped into the shade and the coolness caused me to shiver... It occurred to me at that moment that the violent contrasts in the climate of our land, experienced over many centuries, probably helped to explain the sharp antitheses in the character of our race. The ancient Greeks, I considered, had subjected these antitheses to the discipline of their cornices, friezes and architraves. Two days later, among the slums of a working-class quarter of Piraeus, I came upon the actual embodiment of this kind of antithesis: the acute angle made by a lean-to roof at the point where it met the wall behind it. These observations led me to abandon conventional learning and follow a free, autonomous course dictated by nature. Ever since then, the need for combining what the poet Solomos defines as 'il commune' and 'il proprio' became my most persistent pursuit. –D. Pikionis

Mastering the meaning of art necessitates profound thought and subtle, intuitive gifts, if the initiate is to penetrate, albeit gradually and painfully, into the sanctuary where the inner truth will finally be revealed. -D. Pikionis