Viki Georgiopoulou
painter
Viki Georgiopoulou does not care for embellishments. She confronts us with her raw truth, utilizing a style of extreme realism. Her painting seems to emerge from a dystopian news bulletin: war, juvenile violence, female abuse, virtual reality games, psychological trauma, decadence, and disasters. Her reality is terrifying, and the future she describes is dangerous and uncertain. An implacable realism is her stance toward the present—a realism placed upon her canvases not to be easily digested, but to provoke reflection. Through her symbolism, her use of “exaggeration,” and the way she organizes her compositions, she aims to make the viewer react to what they see. Essentially, it is a “sense of existence” that captures the gloom of the modern era and often maps the territory of the unconscious.
Children-as-“adults” are the protagonists in her paintings, where black humor is pervasive. Having worked for years in primary education, Viki Georgiopoulou experiences firsthand the deadlocks children face today and the problems that plague them, stemming from life within a wrongly structured society that stifles them and leads them down the wrong paths. For her, they are a school—a book without an end. Their loneliness in a world of disturbed adults is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for her.
The work “The Inauguration,” depicting the ruins left behind by war, is one of the most significant pieces in this series and is particularly timely. Throughout history, artists have frequently used art as a driving force and a tool of resistance against the horrors of war. I cite a few well-known examples: Marc Chagall’s “War,” Francisco Goya’s “The Third of May 1808,” Otto Dix’s print “Shock Troops Advance Under Gas,” and, of course, Pablo Picasso’s famous “Guernica.” Georgiopoulou’s work also contains a clear anti-war message, which emerges through an ironic comment: a child “inaugurates” the destruction. What kind of children is today’s society breeding, the painter asks us, and what kind of world are we handing over to them? The same applies to her work “Dream into Nightmare,” where a child searches for colors amidst the darkness of war.
For Viki Georgiopoulou, another scourge of the era is technology. To her, it is nothing less than a modern-day Pandora’s box. Just as curiosity led Pandora to open the jar, releasing physical and emotional curses, so too is the curiosity of the girl in the painter’s eponymous work—who wants to explore everything on her mobile phone—the source of modern problems. The phone becomes a gift that, while appearing precious, is actually a curse. It makes children antisocial, opening a purely fictional world before them filled with useless information, often preventing them from enjoying their youth.
Very significant works in the same series are “Social Construction, Girl” and “Social Construction, Boy.” In 1966, sociologists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann wrote The Social Construction of Reality, one of the most important sociology books of the 20th century. Its central idea is that individuals and groups, over time, create social representations of the world and themselves. These, in turn, are assimilated and repeated as roles, becoming institutionalized and embedded in society as “natural” (!). Knowledge and perceptions of reality are, in other words, socially constructed. Thus, we have pink for the girl, who remains mute since she is given no choice to decide what she truly likes, and light blue for the boy, who for the same reason is deprived of his sight. In this way, the painter intends to make the viewer reflect on the role of a society that does not allow children the freedom to simply be themselves, but instead imposes a manufactured reality that does not concern them.
Another contemporary issue Georgiopoulou addresses is the refugee crisis. She depicts a female refugee with her child in her arms like a Madonna with the Divine Infant, struggling amidst the waves. This is a popular theme in art, common in both Orthodox and Western Christian traditions. In this manner, the refugee and her child are transformed into modern martyrs, highlighting the tragedy of their situation.
Finally, with the work “Staycation,” the painter speaks of the absolute decadence of modern society. The construction of a fake happiness has been the panacea for many generations, leading the world to its current state through the creation of artificial paradises that have no connection to reality.
As a whole, Viki Georgiopoulou’s works have an ominous and inhumane character. This theme has become increasingly popular among artists since the late 1990s. Globalization, the commodification of natural resources and human life, the economic crisis, and ecological destruction have all contributed to this phenomenon, which we see expanded in 21st-century art. The artist also takes dystopia as her subject—not because she is drawn to a prevailing aesthetic or trend, but because she feels a deep horror for the modern age. Her dystopia refers to a world that could very well exist, giving her art the character of a warning.
Yet, in her paintings, there is also hope. When she paints “The King,” showing a beautiful boy with long hair among the reeds, she argues that this is the true paradise for a child: Nature. Perhaps, then, a return to nature is ultimately the solution to all the problems of modern society? Of course, the eye of Big Brother is watching…
Ira Papapostolou Art Critic & Historian, Member of AICA International
