EXHIBITED:
Thessaloniki, Dimitria, Vafopoulio Cultural Centre, Christos Lefakis 100
years since his birth, 4 November 2006 - 31 January 2007 (illustrated in
the exhibition catalogue, p. 115);
Athens, National Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum, 'Lefakis',
October 1989;
Thessaloniki, Vellidion Cultural Center, "Lefakis" November 1989
(illustrated in the exhibition catalogue p. 55).

LITERATURE:
P. Sfyridis, Twelve Painters of Thessaloniki, Rekos publ., Thessaloniki
1986, p. 72 (illustrated).

Evoking the magical world of the deep blue Mediterranean waters, where one discovers miracles of nature and hidden treasures of history, this shimmering work of imagination reveals a new visual cosmos born out of some cataclysmic natural event. As noted by I. Manoledaki-Lazaridi who prepared the artist's monograph, "in the most accomplished works from his 1960-1964 period, Lefakis produced virtually monochromatic canvases, which, despite their limited palette, convey a sense of opulence and chromatic richness." 1
In its use of thick impasto, textured surface and dripping technique -as introduced by surrealist automatism and J. Pollock's action painting, this work combines linear and painterly values, as well as lyrical and expressionistic elements to endow the near monochrome with a deep sense of spirituality and poetic longing, linking the painter with the magnificent Byzantine monuments of his native Macedonia.2

1 I. Manoledaki-Lazaridi, 'Looking at the Work of Christos Lefakis' [in Greek] in C Lefakis, the Painter and his Work, Egnatia publ., Thessaloniki, 1978, p. 82.
2 See C. Spencer, Studio International Art, no. 167, February 1964, p. 73.