Denis painted around thirty
pieces on Aegina.
It was an island he had
made vacation with his family in 1982 and where the 'Daydream' painting
found inspiration. Aegina seems to have allowed time for the
artist to wrestle with his conscious and his past. He made two
paintings of his son and a
large (1.8mtr x 1mt) double portrait of his mother. With numerous
critical social comment paintings (ie: 'Phoney Sex' 'Acid Trip' and
'Plastic bags). Further on that year he created more abstract work
which expanded the base of the style of 'Daydream'. Once again he mixed
narrative painting with an abstract application. After returning from
New York and a period back in Mancheser the artist found himself on
Aegina once again and began painting 'plein air' (sic: working
outside). He created 'Poppy Madness' and 'Schism'.
Behind many of these paintings were social comments.
For example, 'Poppy
madness' is so named because of the 'pink' poppy', the plant from which
'opium' is obtained. The Ancient Greeks used the
plant as a medicine. After the plant drops it petals it signifys
readiness for harvest and extraction of the opium, hence the word
'madness' in the title. In the 'three into one' painting the image is of a Greek 
church, painted in a naivistic manner, he applied a 'separation
method' using colour plains.
To add to the interest
of this piece, the visual is three unrelated
buildings (churchs) painted as one image.
He
travelled to northern Greece (Macadonia) where he observed that parts
of the area resembled the industrial landscape of northern England.
(sic:rich in coal deposits Macadonia is mined extensively. The cooler
towers of the coal producing mines vary in style and it is
possible to see the differences of design of the countries that built
them. (Germany, Russia, France and the UK). Denis recorded this in the
'Macadonia is Greek' painting. A playfull critic on the discussion of
the name of the new independent area of 'the former Yugoslavian
province'. The painting is almost a copy of 'Acid Trip' painted in
1988. The date (1821) enscibed on the painting refers to the beginning
of the Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman empire. The 'thalassa' (gr :sea)
painting was to return to the larger formats of 1989
(1.8mtr x 1.2mtrs) The artist applies abstract
and figurative integration. The seperation of colour lines are
employed together with an abstracted pattern based on water reflections
on the sea bed. Before the painting was complete it appears it was
abandoned in favour of an ambitious 'five canvas set' (18mtrs by 1.5mtrs when positioned together). The
original
sketch work for it began as early as
1989. It was during
this 'paint' that the artist wrote extensively of the seperation
process/method of the conscious and subconscious mind, one that he
believed released a creative force in tune to thoughts about the 'meaning'
of life, death and after life. He talks in his note book of the
'use' of a third conscious level and how 'spiritual input' can be
directed by it. He
named this conscious level the 'mediator'. We will examine these
thoughts more closely and their relation to existential and spiritual
intelligence later in the book.
photograph: 'Palia Hora'
(gr:old Capital or old town) A near fatal accident and Palia Hora
play an essential role in the next stage of the development of Denis's art...
