STATEMENT

My work evolves through multiple, thin layers of paint – acrylic emulsions, applied on the raw and rough surface of the canvas, while steadily thrives between the open boundaries of abstraction and representation. As an artist, I seek transparency and intensity in dark and semi-bright shades with the intention of creating a misty, eerie atmosphere surrounding imaginary landscapes.

This process enlivens in me the desire for a nostalgic contemplation before the emergence of landscape painting – as a distinct visual genre – and from the subsequent recognition of its aesthetic autonomy. If the elusive image of an “inner-scape” recalls our primal unity, or our closest connection with our natural landscape, then it can conditionally lead us to a new state of mind.

 

BIO

Leon Michail was born in Athens, in 1979. From 1998 to 2004 he studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts. From 2005 to 2007 he studied “Theory and Practice of Language and Arts” at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where he obtained his Master’s Degree. He has made 2 solo exhibitions in 2017 and 2010 in collaboration with the Hellenic American Union and Ekfrasi – Yianna Grammatopoulou gallery in Athens. He has participated in various exhibitions such as Rematerializing Culture at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Aegeanale 2015, Kivotos Art Projects/Art Dovecotes by Diles at Mykonos and Tinos, Bouzianis Museum, Ionian Parliament, Corfu, Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens. In 2024, he presented a solo exhibition in a.antonopoulou.art entitled 'Innerland'.