The Sculptor Gerasimos Sklavos - The Best from Greece

Posted on: 10/Feb/2010 The Intenationally acknowledged Child of Kefalonia. A Child Playing with Fire.

It is undoubtedly unusual a sculptor to write about another sculptor. And here all I dare to do is a humble presentation - an expression of my deep reverence to one of the most original artists of the previous century – Gerasimos Sklavos. I do it here as Kefalonia is the fortunate island to claim the birth of this inspired man.

It was the year 1967, I was still at high school, and I vividly remember the remark of my father Constantine telling me that: ''You know my son, there was an important Greek sculptor in Paris, but a granite sculpture in his studio fall on him and killed him!, They transferred his body to his birth island Kefalonia by helicopter; and this, in our time is considered to be a great honour''. This was indeed the very first time my father referred to me for an incident regarding the art of sculpture, the occupation which after this period, will dominate my life during the coming decades.

The sculptor Gerasimos Sklavos has studied at the in Athens Art Academy before going to Paris to continue and establish his career. He studied there next to O. Zatkine, he was also acquainted to A. Malro, and he was considered, after the death of A. Giacometti, somehow his successor. I myself was also a student of sculpture at the same Academy in Athens. And I remember vividly also another remark, this time made to me by our dear life-model Efi Balaska. she said to me: Yannis, I remember Sklavos well. He was a rather moody guy... he sometimes was scaring others by using the knifes of cutting clay...!'

Sklavos, being Inspired by the stunning beauty of rocks formatted Kefalonia, he used as materials granite, soft stones, and of course the various colours of marble – materials so characteristic of a country like Greece. But this is not all. He himself introduced, already at that time, a new chiselling technique by warming up these stones in order to make them softer, for easier shaping and sculpting. He was projecting flames with electric machines in order to do so. However one Saturday morning he was electrified by his tools and burned his hands, and during the evening the same day due to an electricity black-out, he was unable to see in his studio; this had a s a result not to be able to see while a large granite sculpture fall of and killed him.

By the way, during his short life he was able to produced a series of works which will stay in this troubled Universe of ours even if many meteorites vanish from it... Sklavos was a child not guided or supported by the ambitions of a powerful government, but it was history guiding his personal burning enthusiasm.

photo by Yannis Koutsouradis

THE SCULPTOR AND HIS SIBLINGS

And although the Greeks have been 'deprived' in such a way – (and one more time!), the grace of... being Greeks, however on the other hand, they have witnessed the most brilliant example in the face of the two siblings of Gerasimos Sklavos: Helene and Nicolas. During the past decades they devoted their time wholeheartedly for the preservation and the presentation of their brothers' endeavours. The outcome of their affection is a superb journey of presenting the work of his stone sculptures to exhibitions in museums, to galleries, and by means of articles, of publications etc. And, it came out after such a devoted love that: what is Vincent van Gogh for the Netherlands, is indeed Gerasimos Sklavos for the Greeks. And, as I may say, with a difference: while Vincent was moulding a piece of canvas, Gerasimos Sklavos was moulding a 3-dimensional matter of the Universe. The European art world, sooner or later is obliged to pay credit to such distinctions. I myself bow with reverence opposite the spirits of Helene and Nicolas as much as I do for Gerasimos. The love of these siblings to their brother will remain a new Greek legacy in history.

My friend, the art historian Dr Dora Iliopoulou – Rogan has written a brilliant book perhaps the most comprehensive study on the life and work of the sculptor, and I am most grateful to her as well, for offering to me one of the very first copies after its publication. ''Sklavos: Shaping the Spirit'', 1927-1967. ISBN 960-86146-3-5.

Yannis Koutsouradis

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