Contemporary painter Giannis Tzermias is known for his uncompromising visual language, one that reflects the fiery and unrelenting nature of the human condition. Drawing inspiration from Oedipus, the archetypal tragic figure of ancient Greek drama, his work reveals the inescapable tragedy of human existence. Through his emotionally charged paintings, myth is reborn—affirming that the tragic is neither abstract nor remote, but intimate, immediate, and unavoidable.
Two major exhibitions mark decisive milestones in Tzermias’ artistic trajectory, forming a single narrative that explores fate, myth, and the human condition. Curated by Niovi Kritikou, Oedipus – Images After Blindness Trilogy and The Ring in the Marsh of Water Lilies, presented at the Melina Mercouri Cultural Center and the Mets Arts Center respectively, offer a sweeping vision of tragedy and imagination—from the archetypal hero to the transformative powers of memory and desire.
Tzermias reinterprets myth through a personal yet universally resonant lens. In his paintings, as curator Niovi Kritikou observes, light does not redeem; it burns. Blood, ash, and gold become recurring symbols of knowledge, sacrifice, and hubris. The viewer does not merely witness tragedy but experiences it as an inner event. The narrative unfolds as a slow, inexorable procession toward fate: blood and ash become pigment, light sears rather than saves, and the motif of self-blinding introduces a ritual dimension to the hero’s passage through murder, prophecy, love, and revelation.
Figures such as the shepherd, the Sphinx, and Jocasta emerge as embodiments of hubris, while a chorus of 150 goat portraits forms a visual polyphony that ranges from innocent to mischievous to demonic—an allegory for the full spectrum of humanity. In Tzermias’ work, the tragic is not distant; it is visceral. Oedipus sees only once he is blind. In that instant, he is both redeemed and destroyed.
The artist’s exploration continues in The Ring in the Marsh of Water Lilies, where myth gives way to fairy tale and childhood memory. The pond becomes a metaphor for the unconscious: night creatures, daffodils, and mirrored images evoke the hidden recesses of the psyche. The ring, as a secret object, transforms into a symbol of desire, redemption, and eternal quest.
Together, these two exhibitions create a continuum—from tragedy to enchantment, from Oedipus to the ring, from blindness to knowledge, from fate to desire—forming a unified artistic cosmos in which light and darkness, matter and spirit, memory and revelation are in perpetual dialogue.
Born in Heraklion, Crete, in 1954 and raised in Neapoli, Tzermias moved to Athens in 1968, where he at the Vakalo School (1973–1977). He studied painting under Valavanidis, Tetsis, and Dimitreas, while Eleni Vakalo exerted a decisive influence on his artistic outlook. He held his first solo exhibition at Medusa Art Gallery in 1985. His work, rooted in expressionist sensibility, draws extensively on ancient tragedy, while the symbolic tension between light and darkness remains a defining element. His style occupies a space between expressionism and contemporary figurative painting. He has exhibited widely in Greece and abroad.
In an interview with Greek News Agenda*, Giannis Tzermias reflects on the human condition and its formative role in his artistic practice.
Oedipus, a figure embodying human tragedy, stands at the center of your work. What aspects of Oedipus compelled you to make him a recurring point of reference?
Lived experience instinctively shapes the interplay of light and darkness. This visual challenge—combined with its philosophical implications and the silent dialogue between illumination and shadow in everyday life—led me to adopt Oedipus as a foundational reference in my work.
The title of your exhibition, Oedipus – Images After Blindness, suggests that blindness gives rise to a new form of perception. What is this new way of seeing?
Having reached the final stage of the tragic cycle I had previously visualized (Agamemnon, Ajax, Medea, Philoctetes, The Bacchae), I felt that Oedipus offered the strongest resonance, both narratively and visually. It enabled a new iconography that gradually crystallized into an autonomous yet coherent trilogy: Images After Blindness, Purifications, and The Shepherd.
Oedipus, influenced by prophecy, moves through life toward an indirect act of self-annihilation: blindness. Structurally, my work draws on three pivotal elements: The Path—Murder; The Riddle—Love; The Prophecy—Blindness. Images After Blindness emerge from this sequence of events as obsessive, haunting visions that define Oedipus.
What role does light play in your art? How does it relate to darkness?
Light and darkness are the fundamental elements from which line and color are born. Like the blinded Oedipus, I seek to draw the light of self-knowledge out of darkness.
Your exhibition The Ring in the Marsh of Water Lilies suggests a shift from tragedy to fairy tale. What does this transition signify?
I see this shift as a natural progression from myth to folk tale, since both share parallel narrative structures. In the fairy tale my grandmother told, the hero, after crossing the forbidden marsh, finds the ring and is rewarded with love. Oedipus likewise travels toward blindness and ultimately receives the gift of self-knowledge. The reward differs, but the quest remains the same.
What existential concerns drive your work, and what autobiographical elements are embedded in it?
The experiential and emotional dimensions of my life surface in my work as a constant, volatile core that strips away superfluity. A receptive viewer becomes not a passive spectator but a participant. As I often say: “Along the way, I learn more.”
*Interview by Dora Trogadi
All photos by N. Markou
TAGS: ARTS
