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| "There are only two great painters who
have also been great photographers--Man Ray and Dimitris Yeros, two
artists who actually have much in common. Yeros, just as Man Ray did,
approaches his twin arts from radically different positions so that
his paintings look nothing like his photographs. Both artists developed
an aesthetic of photography distinct and separate from their aesthetic
of painting. In photography Yeros is an acknowledged master of the
nude, as was Man Ray, and his photographs, like Man Ray's, are primarily
driven by beauty. They immediately appeal to the senses and to the
emotions. Yet his paintings, again like Man Ray's, are surreal and
reach far beyond reality, beyond the world of senses and the flesh.
Though their appeal is as immediate as the appeal of his photographs,
it is an appeal to the intellect as it tries to understand and make
sense of what he is showing us. And finally the paintings do make
very good sense and become quite clear. But initially Yeros's paintings
also turn sensual in their appeal because the mind does not worry
with making ‘sense’ of them and realizes that much of their ‘sense’
lies buried in their rich sensuality --in their juxtapositions of
startling imagery and manipulations of color as shimmering and delicate
as Mark Rothko's." |
John Wood
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| " ...Dimitris Yeros has long been famous
for his images of beautiful Greek men, often presented with a surrealistic
twist, but here shown in their most overtly classical guise. Photography,
and most especially photographs of the male nude, has always modeled
itself on templates found in more traditional art forms. Yeros is
the direct heir in this respect of the 19th century photographers
Guglielmo Marconi and Wilhelm von Cloeden, and also of 20th century
photographers of the male nude such as George Platt Lynes and Bruce
of Los Angeles." |
| Edward Lucie-Smith
Excerpt from the exhibition catalog " Gods Becoming Men "
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| "Dimitris Yeros is also a poet of Mediterranean
bodies : Egyptians and Greeks of an enigmatic beauty, proud of their
age old nudity." |
Michel Deon
Member of the French Academy.
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| "Dimitris Yeros stands as a unique figure
in contemporary art. Painter, photographer, poet and performance artist,
Yeros bridges these worlds with exceptional originality. He is, however,
best known as a painter and photographer, creating lyrical and surreal
paintings and provocative and richly textured photographs. Although
he approaches these two media from different vantage points, one can
detect a painterly eye in his photographs and a photographer's sensibility
in his paintings. The results are beautifully crafted and arresting
images that beckon the viewer to pause and contemplate the human condition." |
Lauren E. Talalay
Acting Director and Associate Curator,
Kelsey Museum, University of Michigan |
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